Food Law Prof Blog

E Coli in cookie dough -- don't eat it!

We shouldn't eat raw cookie dough anyway, but this is scary. FDA news release:

FDA CONFIRMS E. COLI O157:H7 IN PREPACKAGED NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE REFRIGERATED COOKIE DOUGH

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has found E. coli O157:H7 (a bacterium that can cause serious food borne illness) in a sample of prepackaged Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough currently under recall by the manufacturer and marketer, Nestlé USA.  The contaminated sample was collected at Nestlé’s facility in Danville, Va. on June 25, 2009. 

On June 19, the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7.  The warning was based on an epidemiological study conducted by the CDC and several state and local health departments. As of Thursday, June 25, the CDC reports that 69 persons from 29 states have been infected with the outbreak strain. Thirty-four persons have been hospitalized, nine with a severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome. No one has died.

Further laboratory testing is needed to conclusively link the E. coli strain found in the product to the same strain that is causing the outbreak.

Nestlé USA has fully cooperated with the FDA and CDC investigation and has recalled all of its prepackaged Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products.

For answers to consumer questions about this recall and warning, go to: http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm168346.htm.

For more information about E. coli, visit the CDC Web site at: http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/.

Consumers who have additional questions about these products should contact Nestlé USA consumer services at 1-800-559-5025 and/or visit its Web site at www.verybestbaking.com.

For a complete listing of Nestlé USA recalled products go to:
http://www.Nestlé usa.com/PubNews/PressReleaseLibraryDetails.aspx?id=133CC131-A79F-4E84-9C43-C9F99FE5BC99.

#

Here's a voluntary recall that didn't happen:

FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat California Prime Produce and Orange County Orchards Brands of Pistachios

Products linked to the previous recall by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat California Prime Produce and Orange County Orchards brands of pistachios repacked by Orca Distribution West Inc., Anaheim, Calif. Orca received and repacked pistachios recalled by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., Terra Bella, Calif.

The pistachios may be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The FDA visited Orca as part of its audit checks to follow up on Setton Pistachio’s recall. The FDA found that products subject to Setton Pistachio's recall had been repacked and distributed by Orca under the California Prime Produce and Orange County Orchards brands. Orca has not made a public announcement regarding these products. Therefore, the FDA is issuing this press release to alert consumers so that they can take appropriate action.

The products were distributed to retail locations in airports and hotels nationwide. The California Prime Produce and Orange County Orchards brands of pistachios were packaged in clear 6 ounce flexible plastic Ziploc bags, UPC Number: 8 10826 01116 2 with Sell By Dates of 7/30/09 and 8/30/09.

Guilty plea in tainted pet food case

U.S. District Attorney news release:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Nevada company and its owners pleaded guilty in federal court today to distributing a tainted ingredient used to make pet food, which resulted in a nationwide recall of pet food and the death and serious illness of countless pets across the United States in 2007.

“Millions of pet owners were impacted by the pet food recall in 2007,” Whitworth said. “The conduct of these defendants in violating federal health and safety standards caused the deaths and illness of thousands of family pets, as well as anxiety among dog and cat owners across the country and economic harm to many pet food manufacturers.”

more

Tracing food origins -- barcodes?

Here's an interesting article from NewScientist.com on the possibility of using barcodes to trace food origins:

Barcodes could reveal your food's credentials, by Mason Inman

. . . Most manufacturers already use barcodes or RFID chips to track their products. But with the help of cheap cellphone and internet access it is becoming possible to collate data from remote locations around the world and make it available to the people who are actually going to eat the food. . . .

One reason for developing such traceability would be to show that food was not grown on land recently occupied by rainforest, for example. Another use would be to confirm the origin of chickens (but not necessarily whether the egg came first):

. . .using isotope analysis of chicken meat to check where and how the birds were farmed. The ratio of carbon isotopes in the meat shows how much corn the birds were fed relative to other grains, while hydrogen isotopes reveal the amount of rainfall where they were raised.

Read the rest here.

Hat tip: Steven H. Sholk.

With Salmonella Scare, Shoppers turn to “Sacred Foods”

An article on Examiner.com, reports that the Salmonella scare associated with pistachios has caused many shoppers to turn toward so-called “sacred foods.” Sacred Foods include kosher and Halal foods and foods that are gluten-free and dairy-free.

According to an article in Specialty Food Magazine, the boom of the “sacred food market is second only to the organic market in increased sales in recent years.

The increase in this market can be partially attributed to “perceived quality and hygiene involved in the preparation of these foods which are regulated by religious standards more rigorous than government standards,” and seem less likely to be contaminated than processed foods.

The SpecialtyFood.com article noting the increase in the Sacred Food market can be found here.

Some examples of popular Sacred Food online distributors include Kosher.com and GlutenFree.com.

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student John McVoy for preparing this post.

Renewed commitment to banning ‘Downer' cows from the US food supply

[Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student, Brooke Mengel, for preparing this post.]

‘Downer' cows will be banned from the US food supply. In his March 14, 2009, weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that the Department of Agriculture would prevent cows that collapse before and after inspection from entering the food supply. The Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture will implement these changes.

News sources imply this announcement was made in reaction to the January 2008 Humane Society undercover investigation of downer cows.

Link to the transcript and video of the weekly address: transcript, video

Link to the Humane Society undercover investigation of downer cows

There’s ‘nut’ting like a good recall…

We've blogged about the pistachio recall a couple of times now (here and here). This post has a link to the recalled products too.

In the ever expanding list of things not to eat because of Salmonella risks, we now add pistachios. The FDA released a consumer alert on Tuesday of this week, noting that Kraft found Salmonella in some of its trail mix and traced it back to a California pistachio company - Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc, Calif. And of course, as with the peanuts, it’s not just the packaged nuts themselves that are the focus of the concern, but also foods that use the pistachios as ingredients.

Seventy three products have been identified so far as being at risk and included in the voluntary recall. The list of products can be found at the following link: Recalled pistachio products

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student, Sheila Vanney, for preparing this post.

PLEASE DON’T TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME!!

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2009 – It’s spring time! That’s right! Time for baseball and recalled frankfurters! The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that Sara Lee North American Retail is recalling approximately 1,728 pounds of cheese frank products. The Health Risk is rated at “HIGH,” as this is a Class I Recall. A Class I recall involves a reasonable probability that eating the food will cause health problems / death. When there is reason to believe that a misbranded product has entered the marketplace, the FSIS Recall Management Division convenes the Recall Committee, then, confers with the company about the need for a recall. Besides determining the class of the recall, the Recall Committee verifies that the company has adequate information to facilitate the recall of the product.

The following product is subject to recall: 1-pound packages of "Ball Park BRAND BEEF FRANKS," dated "May 07 09 P8740A" as well as a UPC code of "5450010002." The Ball Park franks in question were produced on Feb. 12, 2009, and mistakenly packaged with beef frank labels; they contained undeclared allergens, like cheese and milk, bad news for the lactose intolerant. But the good news (so far) is that FSIS has received no reports of illness due to the mislabeling of these products.

See the recalled label See USDA news release See relevant Food Drug Cosmetic Act sections: • Unlabeled allergens: 21 USC 343 (w) • Misbranded food, in general: 21 USC 343

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student, Michael Fahy, for preparing this post.

Voluntary Testing Makes Difference

The Food and Drug Administration released a press release on March 30, 2009, warning consumers of a salmonella contamination found in pistachio products sold by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., California.

According to sources in an April 2, 2009, Associated Press article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the pistachio-salmonella scare may have been a lot worse if Kraft nad not voluntarily tested its products and reported the results of its testing to the FDA. As a result of voluntary testing (i.e., testing not required by the FDA), Kraft detected salmonella in its Planters Back to Nature products. Since the contamination, two million pounds of pistachio products have been recalled. Nobody has gotten sick. Click here to read Kraft’s news release.

It is clear that lives were probably saved by Kraft’s voluntary testing and reporting. This is a striking contrast from the recent peanut-salmonella outbreak, which took many lives. Here is the FDA website on the peanut outbreak.

The next big question is whether to make such testing mandatory in the future.

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student, Emily Babcock, for preparing this post.

Mad Cow Disease Specialist Literally Consumed by His Work

Mad Cow disease has claimed another human life in Spain. Ironically, this victim was a pathologist who specialized in a human strain of mad cow disease. The pathologist died Saturday, and officials suspect the disease played a role in his death. From a CNN News Article.

“The doctor was the head of the anatomy pathology section at the University Hostpial Principe de Asutrias in Alcala de Henares, outside of Madrid.” He was well known in and outside of Spain for his work in the pathology field, specifically the “human strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.” Although the doctor’s name has not yet been relased, several samples of his tissue have been sent to lab for a determination of the cause of death.

It is not known how the doctor contracted Mad Cow disease, but the health office said it was not through ingestion of contaminated meat. Authorities suspect that the doctor had been exposed to contaminated human tissue through his work.

According to the World Health Organisation, “since 2001, 702 Creutzfeldt-Jakob cases have been reported in Spain, of which 87 have been reported in Madrid.” The disease has killed 5 of its victims since 2001, now adding a specialist attempting to prevent and eliminate the disease.

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student, Colleen Berryman, for preparing this post.