MAPLE LEAF FOODS ISSUES RECALL AND TEMPORARILY CLOSES FACTORY
Maple Leaf Consumer Foods in Burlington Ontario has issued a voluntary recall on 23 of their products. In total there have approximately 2 Million dollars worth of prepared product recalled due to contamination with Listeria Monocytogenes. The factory has been temporarily shut down for a full review of their food safety procedures and a full cleaning and sanitation.
The products were distributed nationally and primarily to food service institutions such as restaurants, hospitals and nursing homes. In addition, these products may have also been sold at deli counters including McDonald's and Mr. Sub. Currently there has been one death, 12 people ill, and an additional 16 probable or suspected cases. Currently the CFIA is currently monitoring the recall.
Reference: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/New/Local/2008/08/21/6522826-sun.html
NEBRASKA BEEF EXPANDS RECALL
Nebraska based Nebraska Beef Ltd. has announced that it will now expand their earlier recall of Primal cuts, Subprimal cuts, and boxed beef by 160,000 pounds and bringing their total up to 1.36 million pounds.
"Nebraska Beef's production practices on June 24 were "insufficient" to effectively control E. coli 0157:H7, and products subject to the expanded recall may have been produced under unsanitary conditions", FSIS said, noting the expansion wasn't prompted by investigations of forborne illnesses.
Reference:
www.meatingplace.com/membersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=9396&pf=t
www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events
WHOLE FOODS ANNOUNCE NEW AUDIT PROCEDURES FOR BEEF
In the wake of the Whole Foods Market recall, plans were announced to reform its procedures for approving meat suppliers. Whole Foods announced that their approved meat supplier, Coleman natural, was bought out and the new ownership began using Nebraska Beef plan that the company was not aware of.
Starting immediately Whole Foods Market plan to institute new policies to detect such changes in processing plants and plan to take measure to audit all of its meat shipments much more carefully. According to Libba Letton "It's going to mean going back and examining these other things and making sure there aren't holes, especially in terms of food safety".
One of their new requirements will be requiring E. coli testing of beef that extends beyond current government requirements.
SOUTH KOREA INCREASING TESTING MEASURES FOR IMPORTS
According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, due to the recent recall from Nebraska Beef Ltd. of 2400 tons of ground beef, South Korea has announced that they will be increasing the testing measures and scrutiny of all ground beef received from them for 5 successive imports. Currently Nebraska Beef is one of the 30 U.S. slaughterhouses that are eligible to export meat to South Korea.
Another implication from this recent recall is that the population of South Korea, which just settled down from an uproar over the recent resumption of U.S. beef imports, will not help the unsettled population believe that U.S beef is safe. Based on this latest recall, the U.S. has decided that now is not the most opportune time to push Seoul to revise its import protocol to expand beyond its current import of cattle younger than 30 months of age.
CALIFORNIA COMPANY ISSUES RECALL DUE TO E. COLI
Fresno California company Renna's Meat Market has recently issued a recall of 780 pounds of ground beef because of fears it might be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service made the announcement and warned the affected beef was shipped for direct consumer consumption and to restaurants.
The Problem was discovered by FSIS in routine microbiological testing and as of this time no illnesses have been linked to the recall.
Reference: www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNew/details.aspx?item=9372
MASSIVE RECALL ON PRIMAL, SUBPRIMAL AND BOXED BEEF
On Friday August 8, 2008 Nebraska Beef Ltd. announced a recall of approximately 1.2 million pounds of Primal cuts, Subprimal cuts and boxed beef that could be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. What makes this recall more concerning is that these Primal and Subprimal cuts have been shipped to various establishments for further processing and will not likely bear the original packing code of when it was received.
The contamination was discovered by a joint investigation with state departments of health and agriculture, centres for Disease Control and Prevention and FSIS. Currently 31 cases in 12 states and Canada have been identified.
REFERENCE: www.meatingplace.com/membersonly/webnews/details.aspx?item=9350
WHOLE FOODS MARKET VOLUNTARILY RECALLS OVER 1 MILLION POUNDS OF GROUND BEEF
On August 8, 2008 Whole foods market announced a multi-state recall of fresh ground beef sold between June 2 and August 6, 2008 that has affected over 1 Million pounds of product due to concerns of contamination of E. coli 0157:H7. This recall was issued by the company after learning that some of the beef in question came from Coleman Natural Beef who’s Nebraska Beef processing plant was previously subject to a nationwide recall for E. coli 0157:H7.
Libba Letton, a spokeswoman for Whole Foods said "assurances from Coleman Natural Beef that no product delivered to Whole Foods Market was linked to the (previous) recall" and that an internal investigation has been started by the company. At this time Libba stressed that all tests on whole foods beef recalled have not detected any E. coli infection.
REFERENCE:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080811/ts_afp/ushealthfoodsafetyretail
www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_10163827
CFIA Food recall department