Category Archives: FDA

USA – FDA Recall Alfalfa Sprouts – Listeria monocyotgenes

Posted on January 29, 2013 by | 4 comments

FDAEurofins

Sprouters Northwest of Kent, Washington is recalling 1953 pounds of alfalfa, clover, brocco sandwich sprouts, and spicy sprouts due to the potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Products were distributed from 1/10/13 to 1/18/13 in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and British Columbia, Canada through retail stores and food service distribution chain.

The affected products are sold under the Sprouters Northwest brand and are packaged in plastic clamshell containers and plastic 1 lb bags.

The problem was identified through a surveillance sampling and two samples collected at retail locations were tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA).

The firm is working with WSDA and the Food & Drug Administration on this recall.

Consumers should not consume the recalled sprouts products and are advised to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-253-872-0577 from 7AM to 2PM PST.

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall

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USA – FDA Recall Wild Alaskan Salmon – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on January 27, 2013 by | Leave a comment

FDAFDA

Whole Foods Market is recalling one lot code of Whole Catch Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon (4 oz), cold smoked and sliced, sold in stores in 12 states, because it may contain Listeria Monocytogenes, an organism which can cause a sometimes fatal infection in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer short term symptoms, such as high fever, severe headaches, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

The recalled items were sold in stores in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Utah.

The recalled salmon is sold in black-and-gold, flat, rectangular vacuum-sealed packages; the lot code being recalled is 7425A2298B. The lot code is ink-jet printed on the back of the package, on the upper left side. The UPC code is 0 99482 40880 0. Signage is posted in Whole Foods Market stores to notify customers of this recall. Pictures of the product are enclosed.

No illnesses have been reported. A sample of the product tested positive for listeria.

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall

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USA – FDA Recall Salad Sandwiches – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Leave a comment

FDAlisteria-hp

Knott’s Fine Foods, Inc. of Paris, TN, is voluntarily recalling its 3 ounce Chicken Salad Sandwiches with an expiration date of 1/29/13 and earlier because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

The recalled Chicken Salad Sandwiches were distributed in West Tennessee, Western Kentucky and North Mississippi in 35 retail stores.

The product comes in a 3 ounce black wedge with clear plastic film closure. UPC code is 0-11984-01132-6. All expiration dates 1/29/13 and earlier are being recalled. The expiration date is located on an orange sticker on the clear film of the package.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem.

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall

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USA – FDA Extended Smoked Fish Call -Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on January 12, 2013 by | Leave a comment

FDAFDA

GIANT Food Stores, LLC and MARTIN’S Food Markets, following a recall by Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC, announced it removed from sale several varieties of smoked salmon due to possible contamination by listeria monocytogenes.

The following products are included in this recall:

* Nathan’s Nova Salmon, 3 o.z., UPC 7303080368, all sell by dates * Nathan’s Nova Salmon, 8 o.z., UPC 7303080369, all sell by dates * Lascco Smoked Salmon, 3 o.z., UPC 7284001703, all sell by dates

We have received no reports of illnesses to date. Customers who have purchased the product should discard any unused portions and bring their purchase receipt to GIANT/MARTIN’S for a full refund.

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall

USA – Another Smoked Fish Recall – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on January 10, 2013 by | 1 comment

FDAFDA

As precautionary measure, Delifish has decided to expand the voluntary recall to include cold smoked products related to Julian dates 235 to 345, the previous voluntary recall included cold smoked products related to Julian dates 249- 291. There have been no new detections on products placed on the market in relation to this expansion.

The expansion means that all cold smoked products that have been produced in the same period as the product type which initially tested positive in the U.S.A. are now voluntarily recalled. The decision is taken in agreement with the FDA and is carried out as a precautionary measure.

There have been no complaints or illnesses reported. Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall

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USA – FDA – Releases Food Safety Rules

Posted on January 7, 2013 by | 1 comment

Food Safety News

After a year-long delay, two sweeping new food safety rules that will for the first time mandate produce safety standards and preventive controls nationwide will be released today and published to the Federal Register on Monday, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“It’s a big deal that these two are coming out because it’s the central framework for prevention,” said Michael Taylor, FDA’s Deputy Comissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, in an interview with Food Safety News. “We’re eager to get to the next phase of the process.”

The two rules were mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) — a law that aims to shift the U.S. food safety system from being primarily reactive to focusing on prevention — which President Obama signed into law, with broad bipartisan support, exactly two years ago.

Since the law was enacted, the FDA has failed to keep up with the multiple deadlines set by Congress, in large part because the measures proposed by the agency were under review at the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of International and Regulatory Affairs for more than a year — a delay many stakeholders blamed on election politics.

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Posted in FDA, Food Safety, Food Testing, Methods, Microbiology, Research

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USA – 10 Largest Food Poisoning Outbreaks 2012

Posted on January 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning BulletinEcoli Istock

The 10 largest multi-state food poisoning outbreaks of 2012 poisoned 1,071 people in 45 states. Various strains of just three pathogens- Salmonella, E.coli and  Listeria were the cause of the 10 largest multi-state foodborne illness outbreaks, based on the total number of people sickened.  Six of them were caused by Salmonella, three by E.coli and one by Listeria. These dangerous bacteria  made their way into unsuspecting consumers through a variety of food sources including  meat, cheese, fish, peanut butter, fruit and vegetables.

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O157, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Illness, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Research

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USA – FDA – Recall Cold Smoked Salmon – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on January 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Potential Listeria-positive products have been identified and we can
confirm that Delifish S.A. has issued a voluntary recall of cold smoked salmon
products potentially containing Listeria monocytogenes placed on the
market in the USA produced from lots 249 through 291, manufactured between
September 5 2012 and October 17, 2012. There have been no complaints or
illnesses reported. Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can
cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly
people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals
may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache,
stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can
cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

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Posted in Bacteria, Eurofins Laboratories, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Methods, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall

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USA – Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Database 1984 – 2012

Posted on December 24, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Marler Clark

Welcome to outbreakdatabase.com, a searchable database of illness outbreaks caused by one or more of the following

  1. consumption of contaminated foods or beverages,
  2. exposure to animals,
  3. exposure to contaminated recreational water,
  4. person-to-person contact with someone whose illness initiated from animal exposure or consumption of contaminated foods and beverages.

The database describes outbreaks occurring since 1984.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines an outbreak as “two or more ill persons linked to a common source” and this serves as the basis of outbreakdatabase.com. To be included in outbreakdatabase.com, the outbreak must have supporting documentation from public health agencies, journal articles, media reports, etc. Names of stores, brands, restaurants, or other sources are listed if they have been publicly identified previously.

The database is a work in progress. It will continually be updated and revised. Significant effort has been made to ensure the data are accurate. We welcome contributions, corrections, comments, etc. Please use the contact form for comments.

 

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Spoilage, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Illness, Methods, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Recall, Research

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USA – Recall – Cold Smoked Salmon – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on December 16, 2012 by | Leave a comment

FDAFDA

Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC is voluntarily recalling 371 cases of ready-to-eat cold smoked salmon products because of possible contamination by Listeria monocytogenes.

The recalled products, “Nathan’s Brand 3oz Cold Smoked Atlantic Salmon” (Product of Chile) and “LASCCO Cold Smoked Nova Atlantic Salmon 4 oz” (Product of Chile) were distributed to various retailers and distribution centers in WA, OR, CA, AZ, TX, CO, MA, NH, CT, RI, NJ, and NY from 11/20/2012 through 12/12/2012.

Potentially affected product is limited to packages bearing the following codes:

BRAND ITEM UPC PACK CODE VOLUME
Lascco 4 oz Nova Salmon 0 72840 01751 7 285 96 cases
Nathan’s 3oz Nova Salmon 0 73030 80368 2 285 275 cases

Ocean Beauty Seafoods has notified the retailers and distributors who may have received the affected product listed above, and is taking this action as a precautionary measure in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. No other Ocean Beauty products are included in this action. There have been no complaints or illnesses reported in association with this recall.

The potential for contamination was noted after internal testing by the company revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in samples of the specific code dates identified above.  Nathan’s and Lascco brand products that do not have the specific package code identified above are not affected.

Consumers can identify if they have purchased an impacted product by looking at the package code date located in the back, top left corner of the package. Consumers who have affected product with the package codes identified above should not eat the product. Consumers should discard any open packages of affected product and should return unopened packages to the place of purchase for a refund.

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Posted in Bacteria, Eurofins Laboratories, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Parasite, Pathogen, Recall

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