Food Poisoning Blog

The number of people sickened by dry dog food tainted with Salmonella has risen to 16, after two new reports came in to health officials on Friday. People in nine states have been sickened, and another case was detected in Quebec, Canada. Five people have been hospitalized.

At least 11 brands of dog food have been recalled, all manufactured at a Diamond Pet Foods plant in Gaston, S.C. They include the store brand pet food sold by Costco, Kirkland Signature and Kirkland Signature Domain. Continue Reading »

Moon Fishery Pvt. Ltd. of India is recalling, the manufacturer of the Yellow Fin Tuna Nakaochi Scrape that was recently recalled by a U.S. distributor, has decided to recall 22-pound cases of its Tuna Strips product of India - AA, or AAA Grade – because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella.

Salmonella symptoms usually include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, which develop 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness typically lasts four to seven days and most people recover without treatment.
Moon India became aware of the problem after the FDA sampled tuna strips from a lot not yet in distribution. The company, however, opted to recall the products that had already been distributed out of an abundance of caution. Continue Reading »

Just days after Diamond Pet Foods expanded a large recall of its dog and puppy food because of possible Salmonella contamination, four other distributors of the Diamond-made pet foods have issued recalls of out of an abundance of concern.

Apex Pet Foods, Natural Balance Pet Foods, Canidae Pet Foods, and WellPet LLC released statements today offering their apologies to consumers and saying that they would recall some of their products because they were manufactured by Diamond, which not only issued a recall, but had to expand that recall.
WellPet went as far as mentioning in its recall that it no longer does business with Diamond Pet Foods. Continue Reading »

The government unveiled new rules today that will allow inspectors to begin looking for meat contaminated with E. coli as soon as early testing reveals a potential problem. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be able to move more swiftly when problems arise instead of having to wait until several tests were completed, some of which took days.

Most people recover quickly from E. coli infection, but in rare cases the food-borne illness can be fatal. In 1993, four children died and hundreds were sickened after eating E. coli-tainted beef from Jack in the Box restaurants. Continue Reading »

Ashville, N.C.-based Smiling Hara has issued a voluntary recall of its 12oz. packages of unpasteurized soybean tempeh because it may be contaminated with Salmonella. Tempeh is used as a meat substitute in vegetarian food.

The tempeh that is subject to recall was manufactured between January 11 and April 11, 2012 and contain a “best by” date of 7/11/12 through 10/25/12. Continue Reading »

Alfa Sprouts Inc. of Honeoye Falls, NY is recalling about 100 pounds of Springwater sprouts sold under the brand name Organic Alfalfa Sprouts and bulk #3 Clover sprouts because of possible Listeria contamination. The problem was discovered after routing testing by the USDA Microbiological Data Program by New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
The following items are subject to recall:

• Clear clam shell packages containing 4 oz. Organic Alfalfa Sprouts with a sell by date of 4/28/2012. This product was distributed in New York State. Product label and UPC code: UPC Code 688267047411, UPC Code 042891000523
• 3# Bulk containers of Clover Sprouts, with a production code of P93. This product was distributed to institutional accounts in Upstate New York

Continue Reading »

The number of people sickened in a recent Salmonella outbreak has risen to 200, and those patients are spread across 21 states and Washington, D.C. Individuals have been contaminated with not one but two strains of salmonella, according to government health officials on Thursday.

The Salmonella has been traced back to a product known as Nakaochi Scrape, which is tuna meat scraped from the backbone of yellowfin tuna. The contaminated scrape was produced by Moon Marine USA Corp.
About 190 people have been diagnosed with the salmonella Bareilly strain, and about 10 people have been diagnosed with salmonella Nchanga infections. Twenty-eight people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported. Continue Reading »

LA Star Seafood Co. is recalling 20 pounds of its smoked and dry Vobla fish because of possible botulism contamination. The company says the packages are not vacuum-packed, and do not contain lot numbers or expiration dates.

The Vobla are being pulled from the market because they were improperly viscerated. Improper visceration can leave seafood vulnerable to botulism contamination. Botulism is a potentially fatal form of food poisoning. In healthy people, it generally causes general weakness, dizziness, double-vision and trouble with speaking or swallowing. People might also experience difficulty breathing, muscle weakness, abdominal distention, and constipation. No illnesses have been reported. Continue Reading »

Researchers have found that some Salmonella bacteria have the potential to become over 100 times more virulent than normal. The super-bugs even proved to be stronger than the effects of the Salmonella vaccine. Mice that were vaccinated for the study ended up dying.

Terrifyingly, some of the strains had the potential to become hyperinfectious and to join the ranks of the most virulent Salmonella ever reported. The research partly determined the nastiness of the strain by look at how much was required to kill half of the infected animals. The most virulent strains needed less than 100-fold lower amounts than normal to become that lethal. Continue Reading »

A new case of Mad Cow disease has appeared in a California dairy, making it the first case to show up in the United States since 2006. Health authorities say the cow was never a threat to the nation’s food supply, however.

The infected cow is the fourth ever to be discovered in the U.S. It was found during part of an Agriculture Department surveillance program that checks 40,000 cows a year for the disease. John Clifford, the department’s chief veterinary officer, said no meat from the cow was headed for the food chain. Continue Reading »