Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Deli Items Recalled After Egg Ingredient Tests Positive for Salmonella

Meijer Grocery Store is recalling fresh pre-made salad and sandwich items after the supplier of hard boiled eggs sent notification that their egg products tested positive for Salmonella.  That supplier, Prime Foods of Indiana produces hard boiled eggs.  The items were sold in several states in the Midwest and there have not been any illness reported to date.

How does one screw up a hard boiled egg?  At this point, it is hard to say.  Heating eggs to hard boiled status should eliminate Salmonella.  So 1) the eggs were undercooked and would have been soft in texture 2) post-process (heating) contamination, or 3) bad test results.

Again, while we have no additional information at this point on how this occurred and we are no one is blaming the laboratory, it is a reminder for keeping procedures tight, not only on the processing floor but also in the laboratory.  There is no indication if this was an internal laboratory or a 3rd party laboratory that conducted the testing, but regardless, acurate test results are critical. If results are not, then there is a costly recall.  Unfortunately, testing often gets little focus until there is an issue like this.  And the last thing one wants is to be questioning the accuracy of the laboratory.

The laboratory should be viewed as a strategic operation for the company.  Given the resources, they can prevent issues from occurring including unnecessary food spoilage and unwarranted recalls.  On the other side, a good laboratory can improve quality through insuring the receipt of high quality ingredients and ensuring finished product standards are being met.


FDA Recall Notice
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm513292.htm
Meijer Recalls Fresh Salad Products Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination
July 26, 2016
Contact
Consumers  Meijer 800-543-3704
Media  Frank Guglielmi frank.guglielmi@meijer.com  616-791-3814

Announcement

Meijer is announcing a recall of select fresh salads and sandwiches due to a potential risk of Salmonella contamination. The Markets of Meijer Salads and Sandwiches were sold in Meijer stores from 7/20/16 to 7/25/16. There have been no known illnesses reported to Meijer from the product affected by this recall.

The salads and sandwiches contain a cooked egg ingredient sourced from Prime Foods, LLC, a Meijer supplier. Prime Foods LLC has notified Meijer of a positive test for Salmonella on their product.

Following is the list of recalled product:  http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm513292.htm

Incredible Egg. Org
http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-nutrition/safe-food-handling-tips/#4

DOESN’T COOKING DESTROY BACTERIA? IS THERE ANY GENERAL RULE FOR COOKING EGGS?

Even light cooking will begin to destroy any Salmonella that might be present, but proper cooking brings eggs and other foods to a temperature high enough to destroy them all. For eggs, the white will coagulate (set) between 144 and 149° F, the yolk between 149 and 158° F, and whole egg between 144 and 158° F. Egg products made of plain whole eggs are pasteurized (heated to destroy bacteria), but not cooked, by bringing them to 140° F and keeping them at that temperature for 3 1/2 minutes. If you bring a food to an internal temperature of 160° F, you will instantly kill almost any bacteria. By diluting eggs with a liquid or sugar (as in custard), you can bring an egg mixture to 160° F. Use these temperatures as general rules when cooking eggs




Evansville Business - April / May 2014

http://www.evansvilleliving.com/business/articles/eggs-by-the-million
Eggs By the Million
Prime Foods of Boonville is a family tradition
BY NATHAN BLACKFORD / PHOTOS BY AXIOM

The family business opened in 1936 and ships eggs across the country.

Each day of production, the Prime Foods plant just outside of Boonville, Ind., rolls out about 1,000,000 hard-cooked eggs. Most go to bulk customers, who then use them for egg salad or other products.


But soon, you’ll be able to buy the eggs at your local supermarket, convenience store, or big box store. The ready-to-eat eggs will be available in packages of six for home use or in a two-egg snack pack. They’ll be sold under the label of Kramer Farms.


“Hopefully within the next six months to a year, people are going to see our name out there in the retail sector,” says President/CEO Jay Kramer. “They can be for breakfast, a snack, cut up on salads, deviled eggs, egg salad, or whatnot. It has taken about two and a half years to design this and get comfortable with it. And now we are ready to run.”


Kramer emphasizes that hard-cooked eggs provide not only a convenient snack, but also a healthy one. He says the eggs can be a much better on-the-go alternative than candy or chips.


Kramer, a runner who is trying to run marathons in all 50 states, is the third generation of his family to head the company. He’s a 1997 graduate of Boonville High School and says he’s committed to being a part of the community.


The business started as Kramer and Sons in 1936 on the corner of Walnut and Third streets, just south of the Boonville courthouse square. Freeman Kramer and his wife Ruth began processing eggs as well as live chickens and dairy cream. The family business eventually fell to Freeman’s son, Glenn Kramer, who began distribution of meat and eggs to locally owned restaurants and grocery stores.


The name was changed to Prime Foods around 1990, when the company focused on selling liquid eggs and frozen eggs. In 1996, Glenn bought Dutch Valley Foods, which produced hard-cooked eggs, peeled by hand. In 1997, the operation moved to Boonville.


When Jay entered the business in 2001 after college graduation, he wanted to focus most of Prime Foods’ efforts on the hard-cooked eggs. He helped grow and automate that business, and in 2009 oversaw the construction of a new facility just west of Boonville. In 2011, the facility expanded to 90,000 square feet and can process 100,000 eggs per hour.


Inside the facility, eggs are scrubbed, checked for impurities, slowly boiled to make sure the yolk is in the proper location, boiled again, chilled twice, peeled, checked by hand for imperfections, loaded into buckets, placed on pallets, and shipped out. The facility employs about 100 people.


Prime Foods is now entering its busiest season. That’s because hard-cooked eggs are used to produce cold foods like egg salad, potato salad, and macaroni salad — foods popular in the warm months of the year.


“We sell to a lot of restaurant chains,” says Kramer. “We sell nationwide. We sell from east to west coast. Our own fleet of trucks will travel in a 1,000-mile radius.”


Prime Foods owns a little more than 1,000,000 chickens in Ohio and Northern Indiana. Those chickens produce about 95 percent of the company’s eggs. In the future, Kramer would like to add another chicken farm within 35 miles of the Boonville processing center.


“It is tough to find eggs on the open market,” says Kramer. “When you have everything internally, you have a better product, and that’s what you want.”

No comments:

Post a Comment