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Post subject: Another salad mix recall.
 Posted: Sep 18, 2007 - 02:19 PM
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Joined: Nov 12, 2004
Posts: 9205
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_ ... uce_recall
| Quote: | SAN FRANCISCO - A package of Dole salad mix that tested positive for E. coli has triggered a recall in at least nine states, prompting new produce fears almost exactly a year after a nationwide spinach scare.
The tainted bag of Dole's Hearts Delight salad mix was sold at a store in Canada, officials said. Neither Canadian health officials nor Dole Food Co. have received reports of anyone getting sick from the product.
The voluntary recall, issued Monday, affects all packages of Hearts Delight sold in the United States and Canada with a "best if used by" date of September 19, 2007, and a production code of "A24924A" or "A24924B," the company said.
Last year, an E. coli outbreak traced to bagged baby spinach sold under the Dole brand was blamed for the deaths of three people and for sickening hundreds more across the U.S. Authorities ultimately identified a central California cattle ranch next to spinach fields belonging to one of Dole's suppliers as being the source of the bacteria.
The latest recall affects packages sold in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces in Canada and in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee starting around Sept. 8, said Marty Ordman, a Dole spokesman.
Eighty-eight cases — or 528 bags — were distributed in Canada, and 755 cases containing 4,530 bags were distributed in the U.S., he said. FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said the agency was talking with Westlake Village, Calif.-based Dole about the situation.
The romaine, green leaf and butter lettuce hearts that went into the blend were grown in California, Colorado and Ohio, then processed at Dole's plant in Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 6, according to Ordman.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it would be looking to find out at what point the salad blend became contaminated and to see if any other products are affected, spokesman Garfield Balsom said. "We'll go back and find the origins and determine where the product was produced and packaged," Balsom said.
Dole contacted the FDA on Sunday night, as soon as the company got word of the contaminated bag of salad in Canada, said Ordman. "They have been to our plant and they will visit the growers," he said.
The salad mix subject to the recall may have been available in the U.S. in states other than the nine already identified by Dole because in some areas the product was distributed by a wholesaler with clients in overlapping markets, Ordman said.
Food contaminated with this strain of E. coli may not look or smell spoiled but health officials say the bacteria can cause life-threatening illnesses.
Symptoms include severe abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea; some people can have seizures or strokes and some may need blood transfusions and kidney dialysis, while others may live with permanent kidney damage. |
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Knowledge is power....
but if used unwisely,
it will destroy you.
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 18, 2007 - 02:43 PM
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Joined: Nov 13, 2002
Posts: 20774
Location: The Netherlands
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That's scary stuff !!!!!
We had something simulair over here a few years ago...
Milk was contaminited with E-coly and a huge number of mainly children got seriously ill.
I always try to eat organic food if possible from the farmer himself, but even then there is NO GARANTY everything is safe to eat. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 18, 2007 - 03:32 PM
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Joined: Nov 12, 2004
Posts: 9205
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Some measures to insure this doesn't happen again...and again is lacking indeed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070912/ap_ ... lad_safety
| Quote: | SALINAS, Calif. - Government regulators never acted on calls for stepped-up inspections of leafy greens after last year's deadly E. coli spinach outbreak, leaving the safety of America's salads to a patchwork of largely unenforceable rules and the industry itself, an Associated Press investigation has found.
The regulations governing farms in this central California region known as the nation's "Salad Bowl" remain much as they were when bacteria from a cattle ranch infected spinach that killed three people and sickened more than 200.
AP's review of data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act found that federal officials inspect companies growing and processing salad greens an average of just once every 3.9 years. Some proposals in Congress would require such inspections at least four times a year.
In California, which grows three-quarters of the nation's greens, processors created a new inspection system but with voluntary guidelines that were unable to keep bagged spinach tainted with salmonella from reaching grocery shelves last month.
Despite widespread calls for spot-testing of processing plants handling leafy greens following last year's E. coli outbreak, California public health inspectors have not been given the authority to conduct such tests, so none have been done, the AP review found.
"We have strict standards for lead paint on toys, but we don't seem to take the same level of seriousness about something that we consume every day," said Darryl Howard, whose 83-year-old mother, Betty Howard, of Richland, Wash., died as a result of E. coli-related complications.
She was one of two elderly people to die in the outbreak that began in August 2006 and also included the death of a child and sicknesses reported from more than 200 people from Maine to Arizona.
By mid-September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a two-week nationwide warning not to eat fresh spinach. Authorities eventually traced the likely source of the E. coli to a cattle ranch about 40 miles east of Salinas.
But a regulatory backlash never happened.
State Sen. Dean Florez, a Central Valley Democrat who sponsored three failed bills to enact mandatory regulations for leafy greens earlier this year, said momentum faded as the E. coli case dropped from the headlines and the industry lobbied hard for self-regulation.
"That legislation was held up waiting for this voluntary approach for food safety to see if it works," said Florez, who is skeptical of that approach.
"It only took one 50-acre parcel to poison 200 people and bring the industry to its knees," he said. "We don't get why the industry would be playing this game of roulette with our food."
Among the AP's other findings:
• Since September 2006, federal Food and Drug Administration staff inspected only 29 of the hundreds of California farms that grow fresh "stem and leaf vegetables," a broad category the agency uses to keep track of everything from cauliflower to artichokes. Agency officials said they did not know how many of those grew leafy greens.
• Since raw vegetables, especially leafy greens, are minimally processed, they have surpassed meat as the primary culprit for food-borne illness. Produce caused nearly twice as many multistate outbreaks than meat from 1990-2004, but the funding has not caught up to this trend. The U.S. Department of Agriculture branch that prevents animal diseases gets almost twice the funding as the FDA receives to safeguard produce.
• California lettuce and spinach have been the source of 13 E. coli outbreaks since 1996. But if salad growers or handlers violate those new guidelines, they are not subject to any fines, are not punishable under state law and may be allowed to keep selling their products.
Last year's outbreak prompted a temporary downturn in sales of salad greens, but more than 5 million bags of salad are now sold each day nationwide, a number the industry says will grow as health-conscious consumers opt for more greens and vegetables.
Much of those sprout near Salinas, where the fog lifted on a recent morning over fields of romaine and iceberg already wilting in the August sun.
Men in sweat shirts and baseball caps cut heads of lettuce from the ground and loaded them into cardboard boxes to be taken to a nearby plant owned by Castroville-based packager Ocean Mist Farms. From there, they would be shipped out to supermarkets and buyers as far away as Japan.
In an attempt to reassure wary customers, Ocean Mist's vice president recently helped organize a group to police food safety, run entirely by the $1.7 billion leafy greens industry. Some 118 salad processors have signed on to the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement, which uses its own voluntary food safety guidelines.
Public health inspectors can impose mandatory food-safety rules on the farm only after an outbreak, said Patrick Kennelly, chief of the food safety section at California's Department of Public Health.
Some scientists question the approach.
"Mandatory measures give a level playing field and make sure everybody responds," said Martin Cole, a food safety expert at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
But in the absence of federal regulations, 10 auditors from the California Department of Food and Agriculture are monitoring the fields, including Roxann Bramlage, who tramped down the rows of lettuce with a checklist.
"When somebody cuts their finger and it bleeds, what will you do?" Bramlage asked foreman Fernando Vasquez, standing next to a harvester machine rolling gently over the beds.
"When he cuts his finger, even if it's a small cut, I take him to the edge of the field," Vasquez said in Spanish. "Then I put a border around the area where he was working and I don't let anyone cut in it."
That was the right answer.
Ocean Mist passed Bramlage's field audit because the company could prove its growers protected their crops against pathogens, which gave them the right to use a state seal telling consumers the product was grown safely. Growers say that seal sends a powerful message to consumers.
"Once they join, there's nothing voluntary about the program," said Scott Horsfall, who oversees the marketing agreement. "If a handler is decertified, buyers will definitely react."
The industry-led approach isn't foolproof, however.
On Aug. 29, Metz Fresh, a grower and shipper in King City, 30 miles south of Salinas, recalled 8,000 cartons of fresh spinach tainted with salmonella. Auditors had visited the company a few weeks before, but inspected a field where the produce was clean. So they noted nothing unusual in their report.
No one knows how the bacteria got into the leaves. But the news rekindled fears among consumers and legislators who say they are skeptical of the government's willingness to let the industry police itself.
"Some will say the system is working and that we are catching the problem and recalling products, but the average consumer wouldn't know that," said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. "Last year, it was E. coli; this year, salmonella."
Harkin and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., are both working on bills to develop a set of mandatory national guidelines to supercede the current patchwork of food safety regulations.
Similar proposals were developed a year ago, but none have gone forward.
In March, the Bush Administration issued a draft of its guidance to minimize microbial hazards of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. Unlike the strict hazard-control program governing meat and poultry, the guidance included no new laws.
Many growers and producers are either unaware of the guidelines or simply aren't complying, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group.
"Inspection alone isn't going to fix the problem, unless the farmers utilize food-safety plans that are effective for controlling pathogens," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of the center's food safety division. "They're not getting at the source of the contamination: on the farm."
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Associated Press writer Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco contributed to this report. |
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Knowledge is power....
but if used unwisely,
it will destroy you.
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 18, 2007 - 04:40 PM
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Member
Joined: Dec 12, 2005
Posts: 10561
Location: Never you mind where I'm at! You don't need to be knowing! Snoops!
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About maybe five years ago there was problems like that with those salad mixes. We'd stopped buying them. Even iceburg lettuce. Well, my husband didn't want us to. I'd sneak a bite of salad now and then because I don't like being dictated to and I'll do pretty much as I please because I'm just stubborn that way. Now, I can't eat alot of greens because the vitamin K interferes with the meds. So I guess we're safe from the bacterial contamination over here   But if you're going to be sneaking salads, make sure you wash every bit of it really good. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 18, 2007 - 07:21 PM
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Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 8167
Location: CA
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AH CRAP !!!! No wonder I got sick...again  |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 18, 2007 - 08:36 PM
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Member
Joined: Nov 13, 2002
Posts: 20774
Location: The Netherlands
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Maybe it's my Jewish background, but I tend to wash every food that can be washed and that which that can not be washed I heat till every bacteria
has crooked 
Still you cant be careful enough with food so I evoid buying ready to go or pre prepared food.
it's scary that danger lurks in every corner of the world...... |
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ChuckD |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 18, 2007 - 10:03 PM
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Member
Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 6435
Location: Southwestern Connecticut, U.S.A Heroes: Bjorn Of Borg, and Bill, of course.
Status: Offline
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...And never let anyone "toss your salad". These days it can be fatal.  |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 12:17 AM
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Member
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 5199
Location: standing here shaking my head in disbelief....
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| Pippa wrote: | Maybe it's my Jewish background, but I tend to wash every food that can be washed and that which that can not be washed I heat till every bacteria
has crooked
Still you cant be careful enough with food so I evoid buying ready to go or pre prepared food.
it's scary that danger lurks in every corner of the world...... |
My mom always taught me the same thing, Pippa. Wash it or cook it. And don't keep food in the can after you open it. I don't buy the pre-prepared food either. It just isn't worth the risk. |
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When you try to make others look small, you only show how truly tiny your own spirit is.
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 12:17 AM
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Member
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 5199
Location: standing here shaking my head in disbelief....
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| littlestar wrote: | | AH CRAP !!!! No wonder I got sick...again |
Whoa, kiddo, did you eat some of that stuff? If you did, take care of yourself. That sort of thing with a faulty immune system can be serious. |
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When you try to make others look small, you only show how truly tiny your own spirit is.
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 12:44 AM
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Member
Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 8167
Location: CA
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Yeah...I did...and washing doesn't kill e-coli....IF you
had the water hot enough..it would be cooked....
Talk about a Bloody Purge |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 12:49 AM
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Member
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 5199
Location: standing here shaking my head in disbelief....
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| littlestar wrote: | Yeah...I did...and washing doesn't kill e-coli....IF you
had the water hot enough..it would be cooked....
Talk about a Bloody Purge |
I'm sorry to hear that. I know you feel the same way about docs that I do, but do you think you should be seen? That stuff is scary.
I hope that crap is out of your system. Please let me know how you are doing ~ I'm concerned about you. |
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When you try to make others look small, you only show how truly tiny your own spirit is.
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 01:20 AM
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Member
Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 8167
Location: CA
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I'm NOT going to Doctor...you can't make me !!!! 
I think it's all through....just sore...
It makes your gums bleed too...UGH, you know 
Damn...I've GOT to start growing my own !!!! |
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Cuzsis |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 07:08 AM
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Member
Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 4212
Location: Outer Space ;)
Status: Offline
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| littlestar wrote: | I'm NOT going to Doctor...you can't make me !!!!
I think it's all through....just sore...
It makes your gums bleed too...UGH, you know
Damn...I've GOT to start growing my own !!!! |
Yes.
Glad you're okay!  |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 10:00 AM
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Member
Joined: Nov 13, 2002
Posts: 20774
Location: The Netherlands
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Darn SIS...
I just KNEW something was wrong !
Make sure you keep an eye on things , perforation isn't all that rare ...
Norit helps to bind poisonous bacteria.... |
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 19, 2007 - 10:01 AM
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Member
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 5199
Location: standing here shaking my head in disbelief....
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| littlestar wrote: | I'm NOT going to Doctor...you can't make me !!!!
I think it's all through....just sore...
It makes your gums bleed too...UGH, you know
Damn...I've GOT to start growing my own !!!! |
I know how you feel about the docs. How about holistic? I know that yogurt or anything with live cultures can't hurt, but there are probably other things that will help as well, possibly aloe. Sure wish I had a functioning brain so I could think of other things......
Er, should I ask just what you plan on growing? (and if you are willing to share......) |
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When you try to make others look small, you only show how truly tiny your own spirit is.
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