More and more people are getting sick.
Source: Cucumber-Related Salmonella Outbreak Grows to 30 States – Eater
Cucumber-Related Salmonella Outbreak Grows to 30 States – Eater
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: recall
Watch what you eat – AGAIN!
FDA Bans Some Mexican Cilantro After Human Feces Found In Fields
The Food and Drug Administration is banning imports of some fresh cilantro from Puebla, Mexico, after a government investigation found human feces and toilet paper in growing fields there.
The FDA announced the partial ban Monday after cilantro imported from the state of Puebla was linked to 2013 and 2014 outbreaks of stomach illnesses in the United States. The FDA said health authorities in Texas and Wisconsin also suspect cilantro from the region is responsible for more illnesses this year.
Following up on the outbreaks, U.S. and Mexican health authorities investigated 11 farms and packing houses in Puebla over the last three years. The FDA said it discovered “objectionable conditions” at eight of those firms, including five that were linked to the U.S. outbreaks. The FDA said the officials discovered the feces and toilet paper in fields and found that some of the farms had no running water or toilet facilities.
via FDA Bans Some Mexican Cilantro After Human Feces Found In Fields.
A History of Hamburger E. Coli Outbreaks | Lucky Peach
E. coli O157:H7 did not burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, as many in the big food business like to think. It slowly crept into our food supply, spreading in the enormous feedlots that began to dot the U.S. landscape during the last century. The bacteria is now endemic and can be found in cows, sheep, and wild animals such as boar, elk, and deer. As few as fifty E. coli O157:H7 bacteria are enough to cause human illness—and as many as 100,000 can fit on the head of a pin.
Once this strain of E. coli makes it into our small intestine, it can damage the intestinal wall, causing severe cramping and bloody diarrhea. In some instances, the toxin that the bacteria releases gets into the bloodstream, damaging red blood cells and causing severe complications like kidney failure, stroke, brain damage, and death.
Is Jail Time the Solution to America’s Food Safety Problem? – Eater
For the first time in history, individual decision-makers are facing criminal charges for contaminated food.
It’s been more than eight years since nine people died and more than 700 were sickened from peanut butter processed at Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Yet the executives held responsible are just now hearing their punishment: In about two weeks, two brothers, former PCA owner Stewart Parnell and broker Michael Parnell, will stand before the court to receive their jail sentences. Legal experts believe they could face 30 years of jail time, which would essentially be a life sentence for the 60-year-old Stewart Parnell.
At the trial, prosecutors filed thousands of pages of court documents showing peanut butter contaminated with salmonella was knowingly shipped and laboratory documents were forged to conceal test results. Federal inspectors reported a leaky roof as well as rat and cockroach infestations in the plant. In court documents reported by the Wall Street Journal, Stewart Parnell wrote the following email: “Shit, just ship it. I cannot afford to loose [sic] another customer.” (His lawyers did not reply to our inquiry.)
For the first time in history, individual-decision makers responsible for selling food contaminated with foodborne bacteria are facing criminal charges that could lead to jail time, and corporations are paying out huge fines. In May 2015, ConAgra agreed to pay $11.2 million, the largest fine ever for a food safety case, after pleading guilty to shipping contaminated Peter Pan peanut butter in 2006 and 2007 that sickened at least 700 people in 47 states. The fines have raised eyebrows, and the threat of a long prison sentence for the Parnells sends a strong message.
via Is Jail Time the Solution to America’s Food Safety Problem? – Eater.
What the FDA’s Trans Fats ‘Phase Out’ Really Means – Eater
e Food and Drug Administration announced its plan today to phase out trans fats from the American food industry. Two years ago, the FDA acknowledged that trans fats were probably unsafe for human consumption, but until now, there was no national policy on their use in the food industry. This new decision, designed to be implemented over the next three years, was motivated by nearly two decades of research showing major health risks associated with the food additive. In its announcement, the FDA noted that artificial trans fats “are not ‘generally recognized as safe’ (GRAS) for use in human food.” More bluntly, they’re very bad for you.
via What the FDA’s Trans Fats ‘Phase Out’ Really Means – Eater.
Jeni’s Ice Creams Shutters Shops Again Amid More Listeria Concerns – Eater
I guess the silver lining here is that it seems like this company is doing the right thing to prevent people from getting hurt.
CEO John Lowe broke the news today in a blog post to the Jeni’s website, which reads in part:
We have found Listeria in our production facility again. We discovered the Listeria through routine swabbing as part of our monitoring program. We stopped production earlier this week and have been investigating where and how it may have re-entered the facility. … Since resuming production in our kitchen on May 13, 2015, we have been testing every batch of ice cream we have made and holding it until we learned that the testing did not detect any Listeria. So it is with complete confidence that I can say all of the ice cream that has been served in our shops since reopening on May 22 has been safe and is 100% Listeria-free.
via Jeni’s Ice Creams Shutters Shops Again Amid More Listeria Concerns – Eater.
