Salmonella Alert

Salmonella Alert: The FDA has passed a warning to stay away from all foods containing pistachios. California-based Setton Farms, the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, is voluntarily recalling all of its 2008 crop--more than 1 million pounds of nuts. All this on the heels of the recent peanut salmonella outbreak that has killed hundreds.

Although two people have called the FDA complaining of gastrointestinal illness that may be associated with the nuts, the link hasn't yet been confirmed. Nevertheless, the Setton Farms plant has shut down as of last week.

The FDA learned of the problem last Tuesday, when Kraft Foods Inc. notified the agency that it had detected salmonella in roasted pistachios through routine testing. Kraft and the Georgia Nut Co. recalled their Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix the next day.

By Friday, grocery operator Kroger Co. recalled one of its lines of bagged pistachios because of possible salmonella contamination, saying the California plant also supplied its nuts. Those nuts were sold in 31 states.

According to Jeff Farrar, chief of the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Public Health,

"It will be safe to assume based on the volume that this will be an ingredient in a lot of different products, and that may possibly include things like ice cream and cake mixes," Farrar said. "The firm is already turning around trucks in transit to bring those back to the facility."

Salmonella, the most common cause of food poisoning, is a bacteria that causes diarrhea, fever and cramping. Roasting nuts is supposed to kill the bacteria, but nuts can be roasted improperly or the product can be re-contaminated. Re-contamination can occur from mice, rats or birds getting into the facility.

Stay away from any product containing pistachios for now. I'll keep you updated on the news as I get it.

Salmonella Outbreak: Recall on Yellowfin Tuna

Okay, fish lovers--more sushi news, and not in a good way. Looks like there's been a recall on tuna, yellowfin to be exact, due to a salmonella outbreak in twenty states linked to the fish. This is a warning to be cautious if you're out eating sushi over the next few weeks.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 116 illnesses have been reported, including 12 people who have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

The tuna was sold to groceries and restaurants by the Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, Calif., also known as MMI, and presumably for making sushi, not for individual consumption. The Northern California fish supplier is voluntarily recalling 58,828 pounds of frozen raw yellowfin tuna that was labeled as Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA.

Because the fish was sold to groceries and restaurants, many of the people who became ill reported eating "spicy tuna," said the FDA. The microorganism was Salmonella Bareilly, a rare salmonella subspecies. The illnesses hasve been reported in the following statesand the District of Columbia:

Alabama (2), Arkansas (1), Connecticut (5), District of Columbia (2), Florida (1), As Georgia (5), Illinois (10), Louisiana (2), Maryland (11), Massachusetts (8), Mississippi (1), Missouri (2), New Jersey (7), New York (24), North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (5), Rhode Island (5), South Carolina (3), Texas (3), Virginia (5), and Wisconsin (12).

The FDA warns of a 30-day lag time between when people become sick and when cases are reported to health officials. In other words, there could be more people getting sick. Looks like New York, Wisconsin, and Maryland were hit the hardest, with Illinois not far off. The raw yellowfin tuna product may have passed through several distributors before reaching the restaurant and grocery market and may not be clearly labeled.

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight to 72 hours of eating the contaminated food. The illness can be severe or even life-threatening for infants, older people, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

So stay away from the spicy tuna, peeps--nuff said.

Toss Them Eggs

Danger Will Robinson: U.S. residents that have purchased eggs in the last couple of month might need to toss them due to a massive salmonella outbreak that has 266 illnesses in California alone linked to the chicken embryos.  Hold the omelets, hold the presses, check your eggs--if they come from a company called Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa better throw them out.

According to health officials at the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and various state health departments, 228 million eggs, or the equivalent of 19 million dozen-egg cartons, have been recalled by the Wright County Egg company.  That number has been increased to nearly 32 million dozen-egg cartons.  The eggs have been distributed around the country and packaged under the names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp.

Salmonella food poisonings have increased in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.  No deaths have been reported.

Salmonella is the most common cause of food poisoning.  The bacterium responsible--Salmonella enteritidis--is responsible for 20% of all cases.

Most of the cases have been centered around restaurants in California, Colorado, Minnesota and North Carolina.  They are not necessarily breakfast joints--many cases are from restaurants that have raw egg in the salad dressing or dropped into soups.

Although cases have been reported since June, the recall on eggs started last week.  Once again, check eggs from the companies listed above, and if you're unsure, dump them

Warning: Recall on Pine Nuts.

The FDA has issued a recall on Turkish pine nuts from bulk containers at Wegmans Food Markets, and also food items such as pesto, salads or baked goods that may have been prepared with the pine nuts.  Agency officials report that the pine nuts are imported from Turkey, and have sickened at least 42 people with Salmonella in seven states including California, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.  Two people have been hospitalized for salmonellosis.

The CDC has reported 42 people sickened in five states--Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia--and implicated pine nuts purchased in Wegmans bulk bins and prepared foods that included Wegmans pine nuts as an ingredient as the source of the outbreak.  The CDC mentioned Caprese salad and asparagus with pine nuts sold at Wegmans stores as possibly being contaminated with Salmonella.

A recall by the Wegmans grocery store chain was limited to 5,000 lbs of pine nuts sold in the bulk foods department of most of its stores in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia between July 1 and Oct. 18, 2011.  The CDC said labs in Virginia and New York have isolated the Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak strain from retail samples of Turkish pine nuts collected from a Wegmans store and from pine nuts and homemade pesto at outbreak victims' homes.  Federal, state and local health authorities are continuing to use the national PulseNet monitoring system to identify other reports of Salmonella infection that may be part of this outbreak. 

As I've reported in this blog, we're seeing increases in the number of food-borne illness every year, and they will continue to rise.  This latest recall of pine nuts on the heels of a cantaloupe listeriosis outbreak that has been the deadliest in modern U.S. history.  As of this writing, the 26-state outbreak is still in effect, and it might be some time before we can assess the final damage.  But, I digress--today, we're talking pine nuts.  Make sure to check your cupboards for the Wegmans brand, and if you unsure...toss 'em.  It ain't worth the puke.

Don't Eat the Salmonella...I Mean Jalapeño!

Warning! Breaking News: The culprit that caused the salmonella outbreak, which sickened more than 1,200 people over the last several months, appears to be jalapeño peppers. U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have found a jalapeño pepper contaminated with Salmonella saintpaul, the bacteria that has been causing the widespread illness. The contaminated pepper was isolated from a distribution center called Agricola Zaragosa in McAllen, Texas.

Officials are not sure if the contamination originated in Mexico where the peppers are from or if the contamination was centralized in the Texas plant. Either way, one thing is for sure: DON'T EAT JALAPEÑO PEPPERS!!! Not until they've been cleared. So...hold the peppers, hold the salsa, no chipotle, nothing, nada. Can't think of a worse fate: a bug that gives you the runs in a pepper that makes you shoot fire. Yow!

Also, tomatoes, you're off the hook. Officials thought for a moment that it was this vitamin c laden fruit that was causing the runny woes, but lo and behold: TOMATOES ARE INNOCENT. Abbondanza!

There you have it--you heard it here first. From your source of health news and information with a twist. Now 'scuze me--gotta run to the....aaaarrrgghhhh!!!!

Another Salmonella Alert

Put those carrot sandwiches down, hippies: your alfalfa sprouts might be contaminated. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) has issued a warning that raw alfalfa sprouts may be contaminated with salmonella. This just weeks after the same warning for pistachio nuts, and peanuts earlier this year and last.

The FDA reports that 31 cases of food poisoning with the Salmonella Saintpaul strain have been reported in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. The warning is for raw sprouts, which authorities believe are harboring the bacteria in their seeds, so washing the spouts will not make them safe. The good news is that only the alfalfa variety seem to be contaminated; all other sprouts appear to be fine.

"Some reported eating raw sprouts at restaurants; others reported purchasing the raw sprouts at the retail level," the FDA said.

The FDA believes that this current contamination is an extension from an earlier outbreak this year that was reported in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota.

Well, another food, another contamination. It seems that food safety is a real issue today, and thankfully the government is making this a top priority. Congress is currently discussing setting up a new food safety agency with more resources than the FDA has. If it tightens up the controls on food quality, I'm all for it. I understand that feeding the masses is a tricky biz, but letting this much contaminated food out onto the markets is just unacceptable. I'll keep you posted, love children; but until I hear more, stick to the hemp paste.

Warning: Don't Eat the Cantaloupe!

A quick post on a serious food warning: Don't eat the cantaloupe!  Federal health officials are warning that cantaloupes produced at Jensen Farms in Colorado is being linked to 72 illnesses--including up to 16 deaths--in 18 states due to a Listeria outbreak. This is the deadliest food outbreak in the United States in more than a decade.

Although CDC experts report that the contaminated cantaloupe is solely from Jansen farms, making all others okay to eat, I personally wouldn't eat any.  My feeling is that unless you can confirm the source of the cantaloupe, I wouldn't take any chances.  Sure the CDC says that any melons produced outside of Jensen Farms is safe for consumption, but does your cantaloupe have that printed on the side.  Are you really going to call the grocery store and ask if their cantaloupes are from Jensen Farms?  Then throw it out.  Lose the $1.50, save your life, or at the very least, save your peace of mind.

The recalled cantaloupes may be labeled "Colorado Grown," ''Distributed by Frontera Produce," ''Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords." Not all of the recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker, the FDA said. The company said it shipped out more than 300,000 cases of cantaloupes that contained five to 15 melons, meaning the recall involved 1.5 million to 4.5 million pieces of fruit.

The FDA said none of the cantaloupes had been exported, reversing an earlier statement that some of the tainted melons had been shipped abroad.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that illnesses are expected for weeks to come because the incubation period for listeria can be a month or even longer. That means that someone who ate contaminated cantaloupe last week may not get sick until next month. Jensen Farms last shipped cantaloupes on Sept. 10. The shelf life is about two weeks.

Listeria is generally found in meat and unpasteurized dairy products, but cantaloupe has been linked to other pathogens, like salmonella, over the last decade.  Saying that, health officials are truly surprised about the latest outbreak.

Listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, though those outbreaks generally cause many more illnesses.  It generally only sickens the elderly, pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems.  The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 78 and that 1 out of 5 who contract the disease can die from it.   Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Listeria bacteria can grow at room temperatures and even refrigerator temperatures, and it can linger long after the source of the contamination is gone--health officials say people who may have had the contaminated fruit in their kitchens should clean and sanitize any surfaces it may have touched.

Cases of listeria were reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The most illnesses were reported in Colorado, which has seen 15 sickened. Fourteen illnesses were reported in Texas, 10 in New Mexico and eight in Oklahoma.

Most healthy people can ingest listeria and they'll probably be okay; however, it is often deadly to older folk, and it's also dangerous to pregnant women because it can cross the placenta.  Two of the recent illnesses were in pregnant women, but they have since recovered.

Once again: Throw out them cantaloupes people--they're just not worth the risk.

Just the Meat Please

Listen up, peeps--your voice does matter, and it can make a difference.  I know many folks speaking out against the liberal use of antibiotics in animal feeds, and the governing bodies are listening.  In late May, consumer groups lodged complaints with the Food and Drug Administration denouncing the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed and urged the agency to do more to halt the practice.  And just recently the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended restricting and even eliminating the use of antibiotics to boost animal growth.  Bravo!

Limiting the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry is suggested to reduce the risk of developing and transmitting resistant microbes to humans.  Antibiotic resistant bacteria, like Methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA), are believed to be transmissible to humans via farm animals, particularly pigs.  The mode of transmission can include meat consumption, being in close contact with the animals, or through the environment (groundwater contamination).

The European Union has already banned most antibiotics in animal feeds (with the exception of two in poultry feeds) since 2006, and Scandinavian studies have shown that restrictions have led to a decrease in resistant animal bacterial populations.

MRSA is not the only drug-resistant bacteria on the rise in animal products, either.  Bacteria resistant to fluoroquinolones and the most recent generations of cephalosporins have become more common.  Both these classes of drugs are considered essential to human health as a last line of defense to combat the most stubborn infections.  Resistance to third and fourth generation cephalosporins in Salmonella Heidelberg infections in humans has been increasing over the last several years.

According to Beth Karp, senior veterinary epidemiologist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Between 2008 and 2010 resistance increased from 8 percent to 24 percent. In retail chickens isolates, resistance in Salmonella Heidelberg increase from 17 percent in 2008 to 31 percent in 2009."

The strain is resistant to nearly all antibiotics.

We are well beyond a wake-up call here.  Antibiotic resistant bacteria is no joke, as we have seen what it can do during mass outbreaks like in 2007-2008.  More and more meat products are contaminated with these super-bugs, and with further neglect, it'll only be a matter of time before we see another one (fluoroquinilone-resistant campylobacter is common in the U.S. in poultry products).

Again I say bravo to the WHO for taking a stand, as well as the USFDA for listening to consumers and passing on their recommendations to the meat growers industry.  As for meat manufacturers, I hope you are listening.  I get wanting to provide product that's beefier and all-around more aesthetically pleasing, but your current practices are a powder-keg waiting to explode.  Hopefully you'll discontinue the practice of pumping-up livestock with antibiotics, hormones or anything else that you might be adding.  Just the meat, please--the people have spoken.

The Way Chicken is Done in America

What's the difference between a huge and heavily populated industrialized nation and a group of smaller, more traditional countries that band together and take great measures to protect their publics' health and their environment? What's the difference between a country whose system sometimes encourages profiteering, even at the risk of public safety, and a de facto confederation that refuses to embrace "modern" food processing practices without question? If you answered, "a whole heckuva lot," you'd be right.

Take for instance poultry preparation. In the U.S. it is common practice to wash freshly butchered chicken carcasses in a chlorinated wash to disinfect them of Salmonella, E. coli and Campylobacter, common causes of food poisoning. Salmonella and E. coli are particularly dangerous to humans, so this practice seems prudent, right? Add to that the cost effectiveness of using chlorine (it's cheap!) and what you've got is a nifty little tool for mass chicken consumption. That's what makes this country great. Everybody eats and somebody profits. Nice.

In that old fashioned land of Europa they do things a little differently. For instance, they refuse to use chemicals to clean and disinfect a carcass. Cave people. They believe instead that hygiene controls throughout the hatching and rearing cycle to better ensure that the bacteria does not develop in the first place. How yesterday. And they are very adamantly rejecting a proposed lifting of a decade-old import ban on poultry products from the U.S.

Of course, some people and some groups are muy pissed off, like, for instance, American poultry farmers. You don't say. And a couple European folk are PO'd, too. Like EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, who promised his buds in the U.S. that he would work to get the ban lifted. Hey, wouldn't you be a bit annoyed if you were losing $180 million a year? I would. So, why can't those sore sports just buck up and buy our chickens?

According to British lawmaker John Bowis, lifting the ban would be "outrageous and unacceptable, and would degrade EU citizens to guinea pigs." Most vocal against lifting the ban is Europe's biggest poultry producer, France. According to French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier, "The Americans don't have to buy our chickens (and) we don't have to accept theirs." Amen, mon ami, and you don't have to accept American genetically modified foodstuffs, either.

We shouldn't be so brazen about using chemicals (or molecular biology) to disinfect our foods; not until we understand all the risk involved, anyway. I'm all for progress, and lord knows, the risks of infected poultry isn't something to play around with.* But I'm of the opinion that cleanliness starts in the chicken coop, and in this matter, American poultry farms are severely lacking (I talk in depth about this subject in my book, The Six Keys to Optimal Health). Further, there appears to be other options with regard to disinfecting carcasses which are supposedly a little safer. Whether or not this is true, I still tend to side with the Euros on this one: When it comes to the health and safety of my family's foodstuffs, I rather not mess with chemicals if I don't have to. Keep food production plants clean to the highest standards, and never, ever, ever let profits dominate public policy when it comes to our health.

*To be fair, here is an excellent piece on the risk cost-benefit analysis in favor of using chlorine to disinfect poultry and poultry preparation stations in production houses--pretty hard to argue with this writer's reasoning.

Recalled Wal-Mart Meat Products

If tainted eggs ain't bad enough, we've now got contaminated deli meats to contend with.  According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Zemco Industries of Buffalo, New York, has recalled approximately 380,000 pounds of deli meat that may be contaminated with a potentially life threatening bacteria.

The deli meats, distributed to Wal-Marts nationwide, may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, which was discovered in a retail sample collected by inspectors in Georgia. The USDA has received no reports of illnesses associated with the meats.  Wal-Mart notes that the voluntary recall is of meats that are ingredients in their Marketside Grab and Go sandwiches, but not individual packages of deli meat.

Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis, the leading cause of death among food-borne bacterial pathogens with fatality rates exceeding even Salmonella and Clostridium botulinum.  Listeriosis is rare and most commonly affects immunocompromised people--newborns, the elderly and people with immune deficiency syndromes. Pregnant women are at a higher risk.

Symptoms of listeriosis are fever, muscle aches and vomiting, and less commonly nausea and diarrhea. If the infection spreads to the nervous system it can cause meningitis, an infection of the covering of the brain and spinal cord, which can lead to headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions.  Symptoms usually last 7-10 days.

"Listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as serious and sometimes fatal infections in those with weakened immune systems, such as infants, the elderly and persons with HIV infection or undergoing chemotherapy," the USDA said. 

The products being recalled are:

• 25.5-pound cases of "Marketside Grab and Go Sandwiches BLACK FOREST HAM With Natural Juices Coated with Caramel Color" with the number 17800 1300
• 28.49-pound cases of "Marketside Grab and Go Sandwiches HOT HAM, HARD SALAMI, PEPPERONI, SANDWICH PEPPERS" with the number 17803 1300
• 32.67-pound cases of "Marketside Grab and Go Sandwiches VIRGINIA BRAND HAM With Natural Juices, MADE IN NEW YORK, FULLY COOKED BACON, SANDWICH PICKLES, SANDWICH PEPPERS" with the number 17804 1300
• 25.5-pound cases of "Marketside Grab and Go Sandwiches ANGUS ROAST BEEF Coated with Caramel Color" with the number 17805 1300.

The meats were produced on dates ranging from June 18 to July 2, 2010. The "Use By" dates range from August 20 to September 10, 2010.

If you shop at Wal-Mart and buy their Grab and Go sandwiches, better grab and throw...that crap away--listeriosis is serious business.

Halloween Candy: Eat or Toss, Don't Save

Moldy chocolate

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!  Just make sure it hasn't been sitting around for too long.  Some candy has limited shelf life--something for parents to think about before hiding and storing Halloween candy meant to be doled out to the kids later.

According to Karen Blakeslee, an extension associate for food safety at Kansas State University, shelf life can vary anywhere from two weeks to a year, depending on the type of candy, packaging and storage conditions.  Hard candy may last indefinitely, but chocolate can go bad.  Oh boo hoo...I know.  People have suffered from salmonella poisoning from eating spoiled chocolate.

Some signs to look for are extreme stickiness and/or graininess in chocolate.  Sound pretty nasty to me, so I can't imagine anybody failing to catch that.  Also look out for an unusual flavor, as well as a change in color.  With chocolate candy containing fruits or nuts, be on the look out for mold.

Typically, the softer the candy, the shorter the shelf life.  Storing in a cool, dry and dark place is always best.

Look, why not ration out a week's worth, and then toss the rest?  That's the safest and easiest way to approach things.  You might need to check the individual candies, since there's no way of telling which misers kept their candy from last Halloween to hand out this year.   But saying that, if most people are like me, that candy's not lasting more than a week no matter what the amount.  Darn Halloween.