This Week in Mislabeled Products for Week Ending December 31. 2020

Ravioli Product Recalled After Using Siracha Chili Sauce From a Different Supplier That Now Contains Soy - The USDA-FSISI is issuing a public health alert for approximately 49 pounds of frozen, fully cooked, not shelf stable chicken sriracha ravioli products due to misbranding and an undeclared allergen. The product may contain soy, a known allergen, which is not declared on the product label.  The product labeled as “FRESH THYME FARMERS MARKET CHICKEN RAVIOLI Ovals” was formulated with a different sriracha chili sauce than normally utilized in the product formulation because the firm was unable to obtain the usual brand from their supplier. The sriracha chili sauce used on Dec. 8, 2020 contains soy, while the sauce normally used in the formulation does not. The following products are subject to the public health alert: [View Labels (PDF only)]

Label of Cajun Spiced Snack Misses Milk  on Label - Lipari Foods of Warren, MI is recalling its 9 ounce packages of Backroad Country Spicy Cajun Mix because it contains undeclared milk.   The recall was initiated after it was discovered that the milk-containing product was distributed in packaging that did not reveal the presence of milk. Subsequent investigation indicates the problem was caused by a temporary breakdown in the company's production and packaging processes.

Supplier Issue Results in Undeclared Milk and Eggs - Divvies of Trumbull, CT is recalling Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting and Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting because they may contain undeclared milk and eggs.  The recall was initiated after it was discovered that an ingredient containing milk and eggs had gotten into the ingredient mix which is used specifically for the vanilla cupcakes. This happened when the mix was packaged by the ingredient supplier. Subsequent investigation indicates the problem was caused by a temporary breakdown of a piece of equipment on the supplier’s packaging line. The problem has been corrected.

Pecan Pies Labeled Mislabeled using Print-and-Apply Labels - Legendary Baking of Chaska, MN is voluntarily recalling a single lot of item number 7545 - French Silk Pie. This product is being recalled due to a potential undeclared pecan allergen. Caramel Pecan Silk Supreme pies may have been packaged in containers that otherwise identify the product as French Silk Pie and did not reveal the presence of pecans.

Bacon Bits Labeled as Garlic Powder - B&G Foods announced today it is voluntarily recalling individual containers of 5.37 oz. Food Club Garlic Powder, with “best by” dates of NOV 19 22 and NOV 20 22, because they mistakenly contain bacon-flavored bits, which contain soy, an allergen undeclared on the garlic powder labels. It was determined that 1,301 cases of bacon-flavored bits, which contain soy, an allergen undeclared on garlic powder labels, may contain some individual containers inadvertently labeled as garlic powder. Containers labeled as Food Club Bacon Flavored Bits correctly indicate that the containers include bacon-flavored bits and correctly declare the presence of soy.

Wrong Back Label - Fresh Orlando, FL., is recalling a limited number of cases of product containing a vegetable tray with ranch dip due to a possible health risk from an undeclared allergen in a product. The product contains egg, which is not declared on the label.

Pecan Kringles Labeled as  Almond Kringles - O&H Danish Bakery, Inc. of Racine, WI is recalling 3,173 units of Almond Kringle (1lb 8oz) with batch code 26720 sold in Trader Joe’s retail stores because it may contain undeclared Pecans. The recall was initiated because it was discovered that four pecan filled kringles were incorrectly labeled as Almond Kringle and delivered to the Trader Joe’s distribution center as a part of a larger order. Subsequent investigation indicates the problem was caused by a temporary breakdown in the company's baking and icing processes.

FDA Issues Warning Letter to Whole Foods for Ongoing Series of Allergen Recalls

FDA issued a Warning Letter to Whole Foods after a long series of recalls. FDA cited 32 recalls over the past year. (Certainly, it is about time.)

"These recalls demonstrate that your corporation engaged in a pattern of receiving and offering for sale misbranded food products. For the time period of October 2019 to November 2020, your firm recalled 32 food products due to undeclared allergen(s). We noticed similar patterns of numerous recalls for undeclared allergens in previous years as well."

Here is a sampling of the reasons why allergen labeling errors occurred.

• F‐0925‐2020 - mislabeling occurred because your internal labeling system for the repackaging of food products was not updated to reflect the current ingredient listing for the product.
• F‐0408‐2020 - contract manufacturer packaged a Butter Cookies & Sweet Cream Italian Gelato product with the incorrect Raspberry Cheesecake Italian Gelato label thereby causing the product to have the incorrect ingredient declaration and undeclared egg.
• F‐0131‐2020 - mislabeling occurred because your retail employees applied a label which did not reflect the ingredient listing on the manufacturer’s label. This caused the product to have undeclared milk and eggs.
• F‐1048‐202 -  mislabeling occurred because the ingredient statement, which included almond flour, on the master carton was not fully transferred to the scale label used for the individual containers.
• F‐1354‐2020 to F‐1362‐2020 -  mislabeling occurred because not all of your regions had updated their scale ingredient statement to include the egg allergen. This caused the product to have undeclared eggs.

It comes down to this.....the mass retailer buys and sells a lot of specialty products.  Information must be passed from the manufacturer down through to the distribution centers and stores (wherever the items are labeled,  often use print-on-demand label printers).  If communication and technology input procedures are not tight, there is a lot of room for error.  But not impossible, as many other retailers do the same thing with far fewer issues.

FDA Warning Letter
https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/whole-foods-market-610862-12162020?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Whole Foods Market
MARCS-CMS 610862 — December 16, 2020 

USDA Issues Health Alert for Chinese Chicken Wings with False USDA Mark of Inspection

USDA FSIS issued a public health alert for raw frozen New Orleans -Roasted Chicken Wings products imported and labeled with a false USDA mark of inspection. A recall was not requested because the known affected product is no longer available in commerce for consumers to purchase.

"Di-Da Di-Da USA Corp., a Saratoga, Cal., establishment received and distributed ineligible imported frozen chicken wings products from The Peoples Republic of China to U.S. commerce for retail sale. The frozen chicken wings products are labeled with a false USDA mark of inspection bearing “P-40478”, an establishment number that does not exist. The problem was discovered when FSIS received a consumer complaint reporting a product suspected of being illegally imported being sold at a location. After investigation, FSIS determined that the product was ineligible and misbranded with a false USDA mark of inspection."

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/newsroom/news-releases-statements-transcripts/news-release-archives-by-year/archive/2020/pha-12192020-01
FSIS Issues Public Health Alert for Ineligible Imported Raw Frozen New Orleans - Roasted Chicken Wings from the Peoples Republic of China 

Frozen Meals Recalled Due to Complaints of White Plastic Pieces, Broken Conveyor May Be to Blame

Nestlé Prepared Food facility in Springville, Utah is recalling approximately 92,206 pounds of LEAN CUISINE Baked Chicken meal products "after receiving five consumer complaints involving hard white plastic found in the product. The firm believes the mashed potatoes used in the production of the baked chicken meals products had pieces of a plastic conveyor belt that broke during production."

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2020/recall-030-2020-release
Nestlé Prepared Foods Recalls Lean Cuisine Baked Chicken Meal Products Due to Possible Foreign Matter Contamination
Class I Recall
030-2020
Health Risk: High
Dec 19, 2020 

FDA Issues Advisory on Green Gorilla Root Juice

FDA issued an Advisory for consumer to avoid Green Gorilla Root Juice.

Green Gorilla Root Juice is made by the Green Gorilla Root Juice Company in St. Louis, MO. It contains Cayenne Pepper, apple juice, and a proprietary blend of natural herbs. One of those "natural herbs" was discovered by FDA to be Yohimbine.

Yohimbine is botanical compound extracted from the bark of the Pausinystalia yohimbe tree. It has been used to treat ED, with varying degree of success. It has been looked at for treating other health issues as well. However, it does have side effects.  "Yohimbine has been associated with heart attacks, seizures and other serious side effects, as well as confusion, dizziness, anxiety, tremors, headaches and skin flushing, and may interact with medications."

In the case of Green Gorilla Root Juice, the ingredient Yohimbine was not declared on the label and product "samples tested by the FDA contained 147 milligrams of Yohimbine in one 16 ounce bottle, which is at least several times higher than what would normally be recommended for use by a physician."

https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-consumers-avoid-green-gorilla-root-juice-due-potentially-harmful-undeclared-ingredient
FDA Advises Consumers to Avoid Green Gorilla Root Juice Due to a Potentially Harmful Undeclared Ingredient
December 18, 2020

FDA Warning Letter - Acidified Food Processor Fails

FDA issued a warning letter to an acidified food manufacturing facility (salsas and sauces) located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  

First, the firm failed to file an updated scheduled process are they are required to do as part of the Acidified Foods regulations.  "The critical parameters [the company] are currently following during production of the same Flame Roasted Green Chile product are based on a process authority letter dated 12/20/2019. The critical parameters listed in the 12/20/2019 process authority letter are different than the critical parameters filed with FDA in 2016. your recall of the Trader Jose’s Hatch Valley Salsa manufactured on April 06, 2020 that had a documented equilibrium pH of 6.65."    It also seems that they were not following the process as required.

A pH of 6.65 is far from good. 

Then along with that, the firm failed to handle the process deviation when the pH was high or when the process was not followed.  Finally,  when these deviations did occur, the process was not under the supervision of someone who has attended a Better Process Control School as required by 21 CFR 114.83.

Good reminder for those who pack acidified foods of the necessity to follow the regulations.  These items are too often considered bulletproof, but they can be botulism death bombs if the process is not properly controlled. The regulations are there for a reason.

https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/desert-premium-group-llc-612030-12022020

WARNING LETTER
Desert Premium Group, LLC
MARCS-CMS 612030 — December 02, 2020

This Week in Mislabeled Product for Week Ending December 17, 2020

Online Sales of Improperly Packaged Snack Sticks - The U.S. USDA FSIS is issuing a public health alert for ready-to-eat (RTE) pork snack stick products due to misbranding and an undeclared allergen. The product may contain milk which is not declared on the product label.   The RTE product labeled as “Country Meats HOT BBQ Flavor Smoked Pork Snack Sticks” may actually contain Chili Cheese flavor pork snack sticks and was produced on November 6, 2020. These items were sold online to individual customers who further sold the product as a fundraiser item. The problem was discovered when the producing establishment received consumer complaints reporting cheese in the Hot BBQ flavored snack sticks. 

Pecans in Cookies but Not on Label - George DeLallo Co., Inc. of Mt. Pleasant, PA is recalling Publix Bakery 20 OZ Holiday Cookie Platters because they may contain undeclared pecans.  The recall was initiated after it was discovered that the pecan-containing product was distributed in packaging that did not reveal the presence of pecans. Subsequent investigation indicates the problem was caused by a temporary breakdown in the company's packaging processes.

Report - Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2018 for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter

CDC issued a report "Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2018 for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter using multi-year outbreak surveillance data, United States" that uses outbreak data to identify the sources of foodborne illness. "

The report is from the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC), a tri-agency group created by the US CDC), FDA, USDA-FSIS. IFSAC developed a method to estimate the percentages of foodborne illness attributed to certain sources using outbreak data from 1998 through the most recent year for four priority pathogens: Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter.

They analyzed outbreaks that were confirmed or suspected to be caused by the four priority pathogens from 1998 through 2018. (Excluded outbreaks that met one or more of the following conditions: occurred in a U.S. territory; had no identified food vehicle or contaminated ingredient; were caused by more than one pathogen (including pathogens not included in this report); were caused by both E. coli O157 and another E. coli serogroup; or were caused by both Salmonella serotype Enteritidis and another Salmonella serotype.)

Quick take-aways...

• First, nothing really new was presented in this report.
• Salmonella had the largest amount of cases and there were cases in nearly every category.  Why? Salmonella is so prevalent in the environment.
• E.coli was predominately an issue in row crops (leafy greens) and beef.  Why? Ruminants carry it and it gets onto the row crops through irrigation of those crops with contaminated water.
• Listeria cases were primarily in dairy, fruit, and raw crops.  Meat items are further down the list, much of this due to how well the meat and poultry industry has focused on controlling it.
• Campylobacter - Chicken and raw milk (although numbers from raw milk were excluded).  People focus on Salmonella in raw chicken, but Campylobacter is an equal or greater concern.  Both handled through the same ways...proper handling and cooking.

Directly from that report:
Overall Key Results

• The results are based on 905 outbreaks caused or suspected to be caused by Salmonella, 255 by E. coli O157, 44 by Listeria, and 104 by Campylobacter (after 151 outbreaks due to Dairy were excluded).
• Estimated Salmonella illnesses were more evenly distributed across food categories than illnesses from Campylobacter, E. coli O157, and Listeria; most of the illnesses for the latter pathogens were attributed to one or two food categories.
• The credibility intervals overlap for the Salmonella and Listeria categories with the highest attribution percentages, indicating no statistically significant difference among them.

Salmonella Key Results

• Over 75% of illnesses were attributed to seven food categories: Chicken, Seeded Vegetables (such as tomatoes), Pork, Fruits, Other Produce, Eggs, and Turkey.
• The credibility intervals for each of the seven food categories that account for 75.6% of all illnesses overlap with some of the others

E. coli O157 Key Results 

• Over 75% of E. coli O157 illnesses were attributed to Vegetable Row Crops (such as leafy greens) and Beef. 
• Vegetable Row Crops had a significantly higher estimated attribution percentage than all other categories. • Beef had a significantly higher estimated attribution percentage than all categories other than Vegetable Row Crops. 
• No illnesses were attributed to Eggs or Oils-Sugars.

Listeria monocytogenes Key Results 

• Over 90% of illnesses were attributed to non-meat food categories. 
• Over 75% of illnesses were attributed to Dairy and Fruits. 
• The credibility intervals for the Dairy, Fruits, and Vegetable Row Crops categories were quite wide, partly due to the small total number of outbreaks (44). The credibility intervals overlapped each other, and the intervals for the Fruits and Vegetable Row Crops categories overlapped those for some food categories with much smaller estimated attribution percentages, such as Sprouts. 
• No illnesses were attributed to Other Meat/Poultry, Game, Eggs, Other Seafood, Grains-Beans, OilsSugars, Seeded Vegetables or Other Produce.

Campylobacter Key Results 

• Over half of non-Dairy Campylobacter illnesses were attributed to Chicken (58.3%). 
• The credibility interval for Chicken did not overlap with the credibility intervals for the other categories, indicating a significantly higher estimated attribution percentage for Chicken than for any other food category. • No significant differences in the estimated attribution percentages were found among most other food categories. 
• The majority (33/56, 59%) of chicken-associated Campylobacter outbreaks were attributed to chicken liver products, which are not widely consumed in the United States. All six chicken-associated Campylobacter outbreaks caused by both C. jejuni and C. coli were attributed to chicken liver products. • No illnesses were attributable to Eggs, Grains-Beans, or Sprouts.
•  An attribution percentage for Dairy is not presented partly because most foodborne Campylobacter outbreaks were associated with unpasteurized milk, which is not widely consumed in the United States. The attribution percentages before removing Dairy were Dairy 56.5%, Chicken 25.4%, Other Seafood 4.6%, Turkey 3.6%, and Other Meat/Poultry 3.0%, and were less than 2% for each of the other categories. The Chicken attribution percentage increased to 58.3% after removing Dairy.
• Note - The attribution percentages for Dairy are not presented in the figures for Campylobacter for several reasons. Most Campylobacter Dairy outbreaks included in the database were associated with unpasteurized milk, which is not widely consumed by the general population. Moreover, an analysis of 38 case-control studies of sporadic campylobacteriosis found a much smaller percentage of illnesses attributable to consumption of raw milk than chicken.

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/ifsac/pdf/P19-2018-report-TriAgency-508.pdf

Trader Joes Branded Frozen Edamame Imported from Asia Recalled for Potential Listeria

Trader Joe's frozen edamame (soy beans) is being recalled for potential Listeria contamination. The product was imported form southeast Asia through Tesoros Trading Company / Food Company.  The notice does not provide information on how the issue was discovered.

Not much information on Tesoros Trading Company, but likely linked to Teroros Foods.  While certain lots are listed, there would be concern for other lots or products packed in the same facility, especially if the packer did not have a robust Listeria control program.  As part of the importer's FSVP , they would have needed to identify Listeria as a hazard and then had sufficient verification support that the packer had adequate and verifiable environmental controls in place.

Tesoros Trading Company Recalls Product Because of Possible Health Risk

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/tesoros-trading-company-recalls-product-because-possible-health-risk
Summary
Company Announcement Date:December 16, 2020
FDA Publish Date: December 16, 2020
Product Type: Food & Beverages Vegetable Protein Product
Reason for Announcement: Potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes
Company Name: Tesoros Trading Company
Brand Name: Trader Joe’s
Product Description: Frozen Lightly Salted Edamame