Listeria test prompts FSIS recall of Fresh Foods chicken bowls

Fresh Foods Manufacturing Co. of Freedom, PA,  is recalling 701 pounds of heat-treated, not fully cooked, not shelf stable chicken products that may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The problem was discovered Thursday when Fresh Foods Manufacturing Co. received notification from a supplier that the broccoli used by the company was recalled due to Listeria concerns. Fresh Foods did not indicate who that supplier is, but the recall coincides with a huge recall of freshcut produce by Mann Packing Co. Inc. of Salinas, CA, following a finding of Listeria monocytogenes in one of its products.

The heat-treated, not fully cooked, not shelf stable chicken products were packaged from Oct. 10-16, 2017. The following products are subject to recall:

• 7-oz. plastic bowl containing “great to Go BY MARKET DISTRICT CHICKEN & VEGETABLE POTSTICKERS,” with a best-by date 10/17/2017 through 10/23/2017, and case code UPC 815712014975.
• 12-oz. plastic bowl containing “great to Go BY MARKET DISTRICT SESAME CHICKEN RAMEN NOODLES,” with a best-by date 10/17/2017 through 10/23/2017, and case code UPC 815712014937.
• 12-oz. plastic bowl containing “great to Go BY MARKET DISTRICT CHICKEN & VEGETABLE FRIED RICE,” with a best-by date 10/17/2017 through 10/23/2017, and case code UPC 81571201494.
• 12-oz. plastic bowl containing “great to Go BY MARKET DISTRICT SPICY THAI-STYLE CHICKEN WITH UDON NOODLES,” with a best-by date 10/17/2017 through 10/23/2017, and case code UPC 815712014951.

The products subject to recall have the establishment number “EST. P-40211” printed inside the USDA mark on their labels. These items were shipped to retail locations in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns.

Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn.

In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems. Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics. People in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell the health care provider about eating the contaminated food.

Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them.

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Roundy’s recalls 8 tons of chili, soup products for plastic bits

The Wisconsin-based Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. is recalling 16,320 pounds of chili and soup after an employee found plastic materials in a bag of soup, according to a notice posted today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The ready-to-eat chili and soup items were produced and packaged on Oct.3 and have a “Sell by” date of Dec. 2. The products subject to the recall and identifying codes on the packages are:

• 24-lb. boxes containing six 4-lb. bags of “Meat and Bean Soup in Tomato Base” with lot code 354191-2767.
• 24-lb. boxes containing six 4-lb. bags of “Santa Fe Style Turkey and White Chicken Chili with Beans” with lot code 354464-2767.

The recalled products have the establishment number “EST. 33997” or “P-33997” printed inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to retail locations in Illinois and Wisconsin. The products are sold to retail stores to be prepared for sale to consumers in the soup bar area.

The problem was discovered Monday when a member of Roundy’s food safety staff notified management that plastic foreign material had been discovered in a bag of “Meat and Bean Soup in Tomato Base.” The FSIS was notified today. The firm decided to recall all soups produced on Oct. 3.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.

Retailers and consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to sell or consume them. It is against federal law for anyone to sell recalled food. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website.

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Ground beef recalled because of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses

  State and federal officials have traced two E. coli O157:H7 to ground beef from Vermont Livestock Slaughter and Processing LLC. The company recalled 133 pounds of their ground beef today after a sample tested positive for the bacteria, according to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The ground beef was produced and packaged on July 24 and 25. The company sold the recalled product at Bread & Butter farm in Shelburne, VT, according to the FSIS recall notice.

Subject to recall are:

• 1-pound vacuum sealed packages of “Bread & Butter Farm Ground Beef””, lot code #072517BNB
• 1-pound vacuum sealed packages of “Bread & Butter Farm Ground Beef”, lot code #072417BNB

The recalled products have the establishment number “EST. 9558” printed inside the USDA mark of inspection.

The problem was discovered Sept. 30 when the firm notified FSIS of an investigation of  E. coli O157:H7 illnesses.

“Vermont Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FSIS determined the cooked beef burgers that were served at an event at Bread & Butter Farm was the probable source of the reported illnesses.”

According to the recall notice, “two case-patients were identified in Vermont with illness onset dates ranging from September 18, 2017, to September 23, 2017.” Furthermore, “Traceback information indicated that both case-patients consumed ground beef products at Bread & Butter Farm which was supplied by Vermont Livestock Slaughter & Processing.”

E. coli O157: H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps that usually begin two to eight days after exposure to the organism. While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

This condition can occur among people of any age, but is most common in children younger than 5, older adults, pregnant women and people with suppressed immune systems. HUS is marked by easy bruising, pallor, and decreased urine output. People who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately.

FSIS and the company are concerned that some product may be frozen and in customers’ freezers. Customers who purchased the Vermont Livestock Slaughter and Processing ground beef are urged not to consume it. The meat should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers.

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State closes raw milk dairy; Salmonella matched to sick people

State officials suspended the license of Pride & Joy Dairy today and again warned the public to not drink any of the dairy’s organic, unpasteurized, raw milk because lab tests have confirmed it is contaminated with a rare strain of Salmonella that hospitalized two people.

Until further notice, the dairy “may not legally bottle and sell raw milk on the retail market,” according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, which suspended the Pride & Joy license late this afternoon.

“Health officials are urging consumers not to drink Pride & Joy Dairy organic raw milk in any container size or sell-by date,” according to the Washington Department of Health.

The dairy owners have until Oct. 16 to appeal the suspension. The state also issued a Notice of Correction to Pride and Joy on yesterday because of the presence of pathogens in their milk.

“The milk processing plant, based in Toppenish, still has milk producer licenses, allowing it to ship milk to other processing facilities for pasteurization,” the ag department (WSDA) reported.

“WSDA took the step of suspending the milk processing plant license for Pride and Joy after tests by the state Department of Health confirmed that the Salmonella pathogens detected in the milk samples matched the unique strain, Salmonella Dublin, identified in illnesses that hospitalized two people this past January.

“In September, WSDA’s laboratory detected the Salmonella pathogen in samples from the dairy taken as part of the routine testing of all licensed raw milk dairy operations. Isolates from those samples were submitted to Department of Health for further testing, resulting in the confirmed linkage to the earlier salmonella illnesses.”

Several images of the Pride & Joy production facility, including this one, are posted on the company’s Facebook page.

Dairy owners believe they are targets
The owners of Pride & Joy Puget Sound LLC were uncharacteristically quiet this evening after the Washington agriculture and health departments posted the new information. The owners, Allen Voortman, Cheryl Voortman, Ricky Umipig and Cindy Umipig, did not immediately respond to requests for comment today.

Since February the dairy operators have been denying that there are any food safety issues with raw milk in general or their operation specifically. They have posted statements on their company’s website and Facebook page saying they are being unfairly targeted by state officials, suggesting big dairy if orchestrating actions by state officials across the country to kill the raw milk movement.

Eight days ago, on Sept. 28, the Voortmans and Umipigs refused a request from the Washington State Department of Agriculture to recall a batch of their raw milk that was found to be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria during routine testing by the state. All dairies in the state are subject to such testing.

The Pride & Joy owners said no one had reported becoming ill and that the contamination could have occurred after the milk left their control — suggesting retailers, consumers, state inspectors and laboratory employees could have contaminated the unpasteurized milk.

Seven days ago, on Sept. 29, the dairy owners quietly asked retailers to pull the milk and posted a note on the company’s Facebook page telling consumers they could return the milk for a full refund. That batch of milk was produced on Sept. 13, bottled in various sized containers, stamped with a use-by date of Oct. 4, and distributed to retailers and drop-off points across the state of Washington.

Months of health concerns
Washington state officials began investigating possible contamination of the unpasteurized, organic milk being produced by Pride & Joy in January when two people with lab-confirmed Salmonella infections reported having consumed raw milk from the dairy before becoming ill.

Several images of the Pride & Joy production facility, including this one, are posted on the company’s Facebook page.

When state inspectors collected samples of the dairy’s raw milk at that time, they didn’t return positive results for Salmonella, but they were contaminated with E. coli. The dairy owners recalled some of their raw milk, temporarily ceased sales, and worked with the state to clean and sanitize their operation.

At that time, Washington officials reminded the public that although unpasteurized milk can be sold at farm stands, drop off sites and retail stores in the state, it is considered a health hazard and is not recommended for young children, the elderly, pregnant women or people with suppressed immune systems.

The danger comes from the fact that the milk is not pasteurized, which allows bacteria and parasites that are often present in raw milk to survive and infect people. Washington state law requires raw dairy to carry warning labels to that effect.

With the confirmation today that the Salmonella found in the Pride & Joy raw milk in September matches the bacteria that infected people in January, state officials renewed their warnings.

“Unpasteurized ‘raw’ milk can carry harmful bacteria and germs. Foodborne illnesses are possible from many different foods; however, raw milk is one of the riskiest,” said Dr. Scott Lindquist, Washington state communicable disease epidemiologist.

The state health officials referenced information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to back up their warnings. According to the CDC, states that allow the sale of raw milk have more raw milk-related illness outbreaks than states that prohibit raw milk sales. Federal law prohibits the sale of unpasteurized milk across state lines.

Anyone who has consumed Pride & Joy organic, raw milk and developed symptoms of Salmonella infection should immediately seek medical attention and tell their doctors about the possible exposure to the bacteria. Symptoms usually begin within hours, but can take up to two weeks to develop in some people.

Symptoms can include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and, in some cases, arterial infections, endocarditis and arthritis.

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H-E-B Meat recalls 1,150 pounds of diced chicken thighs

San Antonio’s H-E-B Meat Plant recalled 1,150 pounds of diced chicken thighs on Tuesday because of misbranding and undeclared allergens, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The product contains wheat, a known allergen that is not declared on the product label.  The raw, diced chicken thighs were produced on Sept. 22. Consumers can identify the recalled chicken by looking for the following label information:

• 1.75-lb. (approximate catch weight per package) plastic shrink-wrapped packages of “MI TIENDA PARA TACOS DE POLLO CASERO SEASONED DICED SKINLESS CHICKEN THIGHS” with a freeze by -/- sell by date of Oct. 12, 2017.

The product subject to recall has the establishment number “P-7231” printed inside the USDA mark of inspection. The product was shipped to retail locations in Texas.

The mistake was discovered on Oct. 2, when a consumer noticed an incorrect label and notified the company, which then notified FSIS.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.  Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers.

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Dairy pulls raw milk from stores; one retailer stops carrying it

Several images of the Pride & Joy production facility, including this one, are posted on the company’s Facebook page.

An organic raw milk dairy quietly pulled its unpasteurized milk from Washington state retailers Friday, one day after refusing a request from state officials who wanted the milk recalled because lab tests had confirmed Salmonella contamination.

The owners of Pride & Joy Puget Sound LLC posted a short statement about their decision to remove their raw milk from stores on the company’s Facebook page on Friday. That afternoon they again turned to social media to announce the news that a retailer in Vancouver, WA, is no longer carrying Pride & Joy milk.

The dairy’s Facebook post regarding what state officials refer to as a “market withdrawal” said, in its entirety:

“Out of an abundance of caution we have talked to all of our stores and asked them to pull any milk dated October 4th for a full credit. We will be continuing to investigate the situation. We stand behind our products and will offer a full refund to anyone who would like for their October 4th milk. We will be continuing our production as normal.”

As of Monday night, the Pride & Joy corporate website did not have any information about the product withdrawal or the news that Chuck’s Produce stores in Vancouver are no longer carrying dairy’s milk. A spokesman at Chuck’s Produce declined to discuss the situation.

None of the dairy owners — Allen Voortman, Cheryl Voortman, Ricky Umipig and Cindy Umipig — responded Monday to requests for comment.

State continues investigation
The dairy owners did not notify the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) of their move to pull product from retailers and offer consumers refunds, according to a spokesman for the department.

The department issued a warning Thursday, Sept. 28, advising people to not consume Pride & Joy organic raw milk. The state officials recommended that any unused milk in consumers’ homes should be thrown out. They also urged anyone who has consumed unpasteurized, raw milk from the Toppenish, WA, dairy and developed symptoms of Salmonella infection to immediately seek medical attention.

The agriculture department doubled down on its warning Monday as investigators continued their work.

“We are concerned that production and distribution is continuing, which is why we continue to advise consumers to avoid consuming Pride & Joy dairy organic retail raw milk,” a WSDA spokesman told Food Safety News Monday afternoon.

“Today, WSDA obtained additional samples of Pride & Joy Creamery product for testing.”

Initial results from those tests won’t be available for several days. If they come back positive for pathogens, confirmation testing will take several more days.

Pride & Joy produced the implicated batch of organic raw milk on Sept. 13 and marked it with what the dairy owners referred to as a “pull date” of Oct. 4.  It can take from several hours to two weeks for symptoms of Salmonella infection to develop, so health officials say it is possible that people who recently drank the unpasteurized milk may not yet have become sick.

Symptoms can include fever, diarrhea that is often 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, endocarditis and arthritis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Aldi, Publix, Weis ground turkey recalled after metal bits found

St. Pauls, NC-based Prestage Foods Inc. Monday recalled 38,475 pounds of ground turkey after a retailer found extraneous metal in the product, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The problem was discovered on Sept. 27 when FSIS was contacted by plant employees who were sanitizing processing equipment. On the same day, one of the retail locations that received some of the products noticed “metal shaving” in a package of ground turkey from the recalling firm and notified the company, according to the recall notice on the FSIS website.

Prestage Foods shipped the ground turkey to retail distribution centers in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The recall notice did not indicate whether those distribution centers sent the recalled product to other states.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.

“Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” according to the recall notice.

Publix and Weis Markets branded ground turkey, as well as Aldi’s house brand of Fit & Active ground turkey, are included in the recall. The fresh ground turkey was produced on Sept. 25 and 26.

Consumers can identify the recalled ground turkey by looking for the following label information:

• 1.3-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Publix ground turkey breast WITH NATURAL FLAVORINGS” with inkjet printing on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.
• 1.3-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Publix ground turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORINGS” with inkjet labeling on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.
• 1.2-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Fit & Active Fresh Ground Turkey With Natural Flavoring” with inkjet labeling on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.
• 1.0-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Weis Markets Fresh Ground Turkey Breast” with inkjet labeling on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.

All of the products subject to recall also have the establishment number “P-22000” printed inside the USDA mark of inspection.

FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website.

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