Company Issues Another Recall for Green Beans After Listeria Positive Sample is Detected

Cascadian Farms, an organic division of General Mills, is recalling frozen green beans after a product sample was found to be positive for Listeria.   This comes after Cascadian Farms issued a recall back in August for product produced in 2014 when that product was found to be positive for Listeria.

Proper cooking of the green beans by the consumer will eliminate the Listeria, but there is a concern that people will not follow cooking instructions.  There have been no illnesses associated with this product.

The most likely source of Listeria contamination is in the processing environment.  Generally, green beans are blanched by the processor before freezing.  This blanching would eliminate the organism.  however, Listeria is problematic in that it can establish itself within moist, cool processing environments such as those used to make green beans.  Facilities work to prevent Listeria contamination through following practices such as good sanitation, controlling movement in and out of more critical areas (post blanch - freezing - packaging), and then monitoring those areas.

Freezing the product does not allow the organism to grow, but freezing will not eliminate it.


Wall Street Journal Business
http://www.wsj.com/articles/general-mills-recalls-another-batch-of-green-beans-due-to-listeria-1443815248
General Mills Recalls Another Batch of Green Beans Due to Listeria
Company says it found a pack of Cascadian Farm Cut green beans with listeria; it had seen another in August
By Josh Beckerman Oct. 2, 2015 3:47 p.m. ET

General Mills Inc. GIS 0.39 % is voluntarily recalling a small amount of frozen Cascadian Farm Cut Green Beans after a package tested positive for listeria, the second listeria-related recall for this brand of green bean this year.

The recall involves green beans produced on one day in June and is limited to 16-ounce bags with a “Better If Used By” date of 29JUNE2017.

General Mills said no related illnesses have been reported.

Breaded Chicken Product Recall Expanded Due to Salmonella Presence in Facility

Aspen Foods is expanding an recall for stuffed and breaded chicken products due to potential Salmonella contamination.  The initial recall issue in July was for close to 2 million pounds of product.  This recall is for product produced after the company had the first recall and was issued because USDA sampling found that the responsible strain of Salmonella was still in the facility.

Facilities with a Salmonella issue can find that once it becomes endemic within the facility, it can be very difficult to eliminate. 

This is not a ready-to-eat product, but one that appears to be one.  Thus the concern for Salmonella being present.



USDA Recall Notice
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2015/recall-101-2015-release-expansion
Aspen Foods Recalls Frozen, Raw, Stuffed & Breaded Chicken Products Due to Possible Salmonella Enteritidis Contamination
Class I Recall 101-2015 expansion
Health Risk: High Oct 2, 2015

Congressional and Public Affairs   Gabrielle N. Johnston (202) 720-9113

EDITOR’S NOTE: This release is being reissued to expand the July 15, 2015 recall to include additional products. After further analysis, Aspen Foods chose to recall products in an effort to prevent additional illness. Details of this release were also updated to reflect a change in poundage and distribution area.

WASHINGTON, October 2, 2015 – Aspen Foods, a Chicago, Ill. establishment, is recalling approximately 561,000 pounds of frozen, raw, stuffed and breaded chicken products that appear to be ready-to-eat (RTE) and may be contaminated withSalmonella Enteritidis, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

Study - Removing Pathogens from Produce by Brushing or by Peeling

In this month's Journal of Food Protection, a research article looks at removing pathogens from the surface of produce by brushing and peeling.  Celery, carrots, honeydew and cantaloupes were inoculated with high does of pathogens, brushed and or peeled, and then analyzed.

In the end, it comes down to this  - if, as in this study, produce is heavily contaminated with pathogens, those pathogen can be difficult to remove with either brushing or peeling, especially once the brushes or peelers become contaminated.  But in reality, with very few exceptions where GAPs are not follow, pathogens are absent from produce.

A few of the findings:

• "Pathogen removal (either E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella) was significantly lower from contaminated cantaloupes than from other contaminated produce items".  Yeah, it's the rougher surface, so it is going to stick there.
• "Both pathogens could still be detected on all produce items brushed with any of the three brush types suggest that contamination of the peeler is a likely route for transfer of pathogens from the surface to the internal tissues."  Once your cleaning tools encounter contamination, they can spread it. 
• "The incidence of contamination for the nylon brush was significantly lower than that for the Sparta brush, which in turn was significantly lower than that for the scouring pad."  The harder to clean the brush or pad, the more that it can contaminate.
• "To reduce risk further, consumers should be advised that brushing or peeling under running water may be beneficial for limiting contamination of the utensil and thus the risk of cross contamination to noncontaminated produce items subsequently processed with the same utensil."  Keep your brushes and peelers clean.

A Sparta Brush

 

Journal of Food Protection®, Number 9, September 2015, pp. 1624-1769, pp. 1624-1631(8)

Role of Brushes and Peelers in Removal of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella from Produce in Domestic Kitchens

Authors: Erickson, Marilyn C.¹; Liao, Jean²; Cannon, Jennifer L.²; Ortega, Ynes R.²

Abstract (bulletized)

Using the Smartphone for Stealth Auditing

Is that person checking the score of the Steeler game....or I am getting audited? 


Penn State News
http://news.psu.edu/story/372963/2015/10/01/research/phone-app-allows-researchers-conduct-concealed-food-safety
Phone app allows researchers to conduct concealed food safety observations
By Jeff Mulhollem
October 1, 2015

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Smartphones are so ubiquitous, and text messaging and social media activities so common in public places, that no one questions what anyone does with their phone. That pervasiveness allows a phone application to be used in direct, concealed observations without alerting the people being observed.

That is the conclusion of food science researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, who studied whether phones could be used in place of the traditional clipboards to improve the quality of data collection related to food safety observations.

Two PCA Operational Managers Sentenced to Time in the Big House

Sentences were handed down for the two operational managers involved in the PCA Salmonella outbreak case.  Operations Manager Samuel Lightsey, 50, will serve three years in prison while Daniel Kilgore, 46, another ex-manager at the plant, will serve six.  Because they agreed to testify against the owner, Steward Parnell (who received a 28 years), their sentences were shorter as part of the plea bargain agreement.

Like the Quality Manager, these two operations managers who were probably just following orders, may have never considered the implications associated with positive Salmonella test results for the product.  Or the fact much of their product was destined for high risk individuals as part of thief foodservice sales.  Easy to justify since the owner didn't seem to worry...it was just another day of making and shipping product that may or may not have a little Salmonella.  In the end, it was a big deal.  And unfortunately for these pawns, they will be spending time in the big house. 

Think about it.....one of them picking up the phone and dialing the FDA about the positive results would have saved them, all the consumers who had gotten sick, and provided it was early on, would have limited impact to the owner and his company.  Or hell, if they had only put forth the effort to clean the damn plant to rid the source of contamination. 

USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/10/01/lenient-sentences-ex-officials-salmonella-outbreak/73149204/
Lenient sentences for ex-officials in salmonella outbreak
Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY 2:50 p.m. EDT October 1, 2015

Two ex-officials of Peanut Corporation of America drew lenient sentences Thursday for their self-admitted roles in a salmonella outbreak blamed for killing nine and sickening hundreds.

Georgia U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands sentenced Samuel Lightsey, 50, a former operations manager at the peanut firm's Blakely, Ga. plant, to serve three years in prison. Daniel Kilgore, 46, another ex-manager at the plant, drew a six-year sentence from the judge.

Salmonella Oubreak Associated with Cucumbers....671 Affected and 3 Deaths

Update on Cucumber Salmonella Outbreak.....CDC now reports that

• Since the last update on September 22, 2015, 113 more ill people have been reported from 19 states. Given the 14-day shelf life of cucumbers, it is not unexpected to continue to see illnesses reported after the recalls.
• Alabama was added to the list of states with ill people, bringing the total number of states to 34.

This takes the total number of infected to 671 individuals, with 3 deaths.  Interesting, more than half of those infected, about 340, were children (<18 years old)

  

 

 

CDC Outbreak Notice

 http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/poona-09-15/

Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella Poona Infections Linked to Imported Cucumbers

Read the Recall & Advice to Consumers, Restaurants, and Retailers >>(http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/poona-09-15/advice.html)

CDC, multiple states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Poona infections. This investigation is ongoing. CDC will provide updates when more information is available.

• 671 people infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Poona have been reported from 34 states, an increase of 113 cases since the last update on September 22.
• 131 ill people have been hospitalized, and three deaths have been reported from Arizona (1), California (1), and Texas (1).
• 51% of ill people are children younger than 18 years.

The Cost of Foodborne Outbreaks - And Blue Bell as an Example of Mishandling an Outbreak

Foodborne outbreaks can have a devastating effect on those who become ill, but also will huge financial impact on those companies in terms of lawsuits, recall, and loss in sales.  Mishandling an outbreak can magnify those costs.

Fortune Magazine published two articles on the topic (links and excerpts below).  One looked at how Blue Bell was slow to act after their product was linked to Listeria...both knowing they had an issue and not solving it, and then with the recall in terms of performing 'recall creep' - where a series of recalls are issued where each subsequent recall entails increasing scope of products.  Recall creep has occurred often because companies fail to understand the extent of the risk.  The downside is that it drags out the recall and gives a worse perception of the company.  Comes back to the old saying - 'the first loss is your best loss'.

The other Fortune article looks the total cost of a foodborne outbreaks, which they estimated at $55.5 billion.  Recalls can cost companies from $30 million to $99 million, and in 5% of the cases, greater than $100 million.

Fortune Magazine
http://fortune.com/2015/09/25/blue-bell-listeria-recall/
How ice cream maker Blue Bell blew it - Excerpts

by Peter Elkind @peterelkind September 25, 2015, 12:00 PM EDT

Patrons of SC Fast Food Establishment Exposed to Hepatitis After 2 Employees Test Positive

Thousands of people were potentially exposed to Hepatitis A after eating at one of two Hardees fast food restaurants in South Carolina.  Notification of the potential exposure was broadcast after two employees had tested positive for the virus.

According to reports, some 5000 people had already been vaccinated. There is a window from the time of exposure to about 2 weeks out when a vaccination can prevent the disease. As we know,  Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the Hepatitis A virus. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a severe illness lasting several months.

A lawsuit has already been filed for those 'who may have been infected".

Food operations, especially those who work with ready-to-eat foods, should institute a Food Workers Health Hygiene Program.  Information is available from FDA as well as many state government websites.

WSPA.com
http://wspa.com/2015/09/18/hepatitis-a-exposure-at-2-spartanburg-co-hardees/
Possible Hepatitis A Exposure at 2 Spartanburg Co. Hardee’s
DHEC Published: September 18, 2015, 5:27 pm Updated: September 20, 2015, 8:45 pm 

For customers and staff who ate at either of these restaurants between Sep. 6 and 15, there is still time to get post-exposure treatment (the vaccine).

This first date will change daily (for e.g., for Monday, it will be Sep. 7 and 15) to reflect the 2 week post-exposure treatment window.

Vermont Burger Joint Linked to E. coli Outbreak

A Vermont burger joint has been linked to  7 cases of E. coli. 

Of course it is one of these gourmet burger joints...where they perhaps like to undercook the burgers?..  To see if this is the case, I went to the reviews.

Trip Advisor  (these were within the first 20 reviews I checked)
"We went to Worthy Burgers after hearing much hype about what great burgers they served, I am always looking to a great burger. There were 4 people in our party and we all agreed that although the burgers were good, they fell short of what we would consider a great burger. One of our main complaints was the all the burgers were prepared rare. They do clearly state the burgers will be service pink in the middle, but all 4 burgers were red in the middle. My wife asked if her burger burger could be cooked more and they willing prepared another burger but that was also arrived rare. They should realize not everyone likes their burgers rare and asked how you would like it cooked.

"My rare burger was a large, almost meatball like sphere of meat centered in a dry, almost stale bun with three wilted rings of bermuda onion. Its degree of doneness was so far from rare the best color description I could say it was, was grey with no pink discernible.
Not to be outdone, L's medium rare burger was a lighter shade of pale grey than mine"

And a professional review in Seven Days:
"The burger was slightly underseasoned, a paler cousin to the world-class patties at Worthy’s closest Burlington cognate, the Farmhouse Tap & Grill. A thin strip of pink made it look juicier than it actually was. "

Yep, you need to cook that select grass fed burger to the right temperature, just like any hamburger.  And for those that like that rare hamburger, or refuse to use a thermometer - is it worth the risk?


Valley News
http://www.vnews.com/news/18747830-95/vt-officials-continue-e-coli-investigation
 Vt. Officials Continue E. Coli Investigation


By Jordan Cuddemi  Valley News Staff Writer
Friday, September 25, 2015   (Published in print: Friday, September 25, 2015)
 
South Royalton — A South Royalton restaurant voluntarily closed for several days recently and switched food vendors after being contacted by state officials who are investigating an E. coli “cluster” that has sickened at least five people.