Produce Company Expands Recall of Leafy Greens, Product is Already Past the Expiration Date

BrightFarms expanded their July 15th recall of packaged greens to now include additional packaged salad greens that are past expiration date and were produced in its Rochelle, Illinois (Ogle County) greenhouse farm sold in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan due to potential contamination with Salmonella.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/brightfarms-announces-voluntary-recall-expansion-packaged-salad-greens-sold-illinois-wisconsin-iowa
BrightFarms Announces Voluntary Recall Expansion of Packaged Salad Greens Sold in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan
Summary
Company Announcement Date: July 28, 2021
FDA Publish Date:  July 28, 2021
Product Type:  Food & Beverages  Produce  
Reason for Announcement:  Potential for Salmonella
Company Name:  BrightFarms
Brand Name:  BrightFarms
Product Description:  Baby Spinach

Italian and Ranch Seasoning Blends Recalled After FDA Sampling Finds Salmonella

McCormick & Company, Inc. is initiating a voluntary recall of McCormick Perfect Pinch Italian Seasoning, McCormick Culinary Italian Seasoning and Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Ranch Seasoning due to possible contamination with Salmonella.  The potential risk was brought to McCormick’s attention by FDA during routine testing. This recall affects cases that were shipped of the affected date codes.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/voluntary-recall-notice-mccormick-italian-seasoning-products-and-franks-redhot-buffalo-ranch
Voluntary Recall Notice of McCormick Italian Seasoning Products and Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Ranch Seasoning Due to Possible Salmonella Risk
Summary
Company Announcement Date: July 27, 2021
FDA Publish Date:  July 27, 2021
Product Type:  Food & Beverages
Reason for Announcement:  Potential for Salmonella
Company Name:  McCormick & Company, Inc.
Brand Name:  McCormick and Frank’s
Product Description:  Italian Seasonings and RedHot Buffalo Ranch Seasoning

Cheddar Cheese Recalled After Listeria Positive Test

Cahill's a cheese manufacturer located in Ireland is voluntarily a number of cheese products after internal testing found the presence of Listeria.  "Routine testing picked up positives of Listeria Monocytogenes. Our investigation identified a single piece of equipment in our facility as the potential source of this issue and the equipment was immediately removed from our production line. All our products manufactured since have tested fully clear."

Whole Foods is recalling Cahill Cheddar Porter and Whiskey Cheddar Cheeses from 44 stores across 22 states because of a potential contamination of Listeria monocytogenes. The issue was discovered when Whole Foods Market was notified by a Cahills of the positive test result for Listeria monocytogenes. There have been no know illnesses.

Cahill’s Farm Cheese Recalls Specialty Cheddar Cheese Due to Possible Health Risk | FDA
Cahill’s Farm Cheese Recalls Specialty Cheddar Cheese Due to Possible Health Risk
Summary
Company Announcement Date: July 29, 2021
FDA Publish Date: July 29, 2021
Product Type: Food & Beverages
Reason for Announcement: Potential Listeria monocytogenes
Company Name: Cahill’s Farm Cheese 
Brand Name: Cahill’s Farm Cheese Lidl
Product Description: Cheddar Cheese

Spice Company Recalls Spice Blend After Positive Listeria Test

Excalibur Seasoning Company of Pekin, IL is recalling 17 bottles of Haen Meats 1959 House Blend because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.   The recall is the result of routine finished product testing which found the bacteria to be present in one product. Further ingredient testing found the bacteria may be present in one lot of one ingredient. All products which used this lot of ingredient are being recalled.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/excalibur-seasoning-company-recalls-seasoning-blend-because-possible-health-risk
Excalibur Seasoning Company Recalls Seasoning Blend Because of Possible Health Risk
Summary
Company Announcement Date:  July 26, 2021
FDA Publish Date:  July 26, 2021
Product Type:  Food & Beverages  Spices, Flavors & Salts
Reason for Announcement:  Potential Listeria monocytogenes
Company Name:  Excalibur Seasoning Company
Brand Name:  Haen Meats
Product Description:  1959 House Blend (Seasoning)
Company Announcement

Leafy Green Products Recalled After Positive Listeria Test

Old Souls Farms, LLC, located at in St. Paris Ohio is initiating a voluntary recall of greenhouse leafy green products following a positive test of Listeria monocytogenes. "The positive test for Listeria monocytogenes was from a routine facility test of rainwater holding tanks in the greenhouse facility as well as testing from a customer who received contaminated Basil product. Multiple samples of all products from multiple Lot Codes as well as additional water testing has been completed. The positive test for Listeria monocytogenes in product has been determined that it was an isolated event. However, out of an abundance of caution we decided to recall all product as stated above."

Old Soul Farms is a company that operates in controlled growing environments.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/old-souls-farms-llc-recalls-leafy-green-products-due-possible-health-risk?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Old Soul’s Farms LLC Recalls Leafy Green Products Due to Possible Health Risk
Summary
Company Announcement Date:  July 26, 2021
FDA Publish Date:  July 26, 2021
Product Type:  Food & Beverages
Reason for Announcement:  Listeria monocytogenes
Company Name:  Old Soul's Farms LLC
Brand Name:  Old Soul's Farms LLC
Product Description:  Greenhouse leafy green products

Food Fraud - Operation OPSON Report Opens Our Eyes to the Level of Deceit Involving Food

Operation OPSON is a coordinated operation between Europol and Interpol to combat trafficking of counterfeit and substandard food and beverages. In the ninth operation (Dec 2019 to Jun 2020) of this type, 83 countries were involved countries, and resulted in the removal a lot of product from commerce and the arrest of a lot of bad people.

We rarely see large scale food fraud investigations for foods originating in the United States, so this report is a great opportunity to see the large scale of food fraud around the world.  These are products that are either related to substitution (one food sold in place of another ) or the sale of substandard product (such as that occurs when adulterated product is knowingly sold as safe).

For the complete report, click on this link Operation Opson IX – Analysis report | Europol (europa.eu)

Here are the highlights (or low lights):

Dairy Products - 

Participating countries: Bulgaria, Italy, France, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland
The project resulted in the seizures of 320 tonnes of smuggled or substandard dairy products. National authorities seized rotten milk and cheese which posed a threat to consumer health. Additionally, 210 tonnes of cheese were seized, which did not meet the conditions to be labelled with a protected geographic denomination.
A Bulgarian investigation into an unregistered warehouse revealed seven samples of cheese tested positive for starch and E.coli. The authorities seized 3.6 tonnes of unsafe dairy products, which were supposed to be processed into melted cheese.

Olive Oil
Participating countries: Albania, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Jordan, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Spain
A total of 149 tonnes of cooking oil was seized as a result of this targeted action led by Greece. About 88 tonnes from the seizures were olive oil and were reported by Albania, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lithuania, Portugal and Spain.
In Italy, during a check on a company producing olive oil, inspectors found a surplus of product, which was not registered in the official documents of the company, thus more than 66 tonnes of olive oil were seized.

Alcohol and Wine
Participating countries: Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, UK
Law enforcement authorities, coordinated by OLAF, seized 1.2 million litres of alcoholic beverages, with the largest quantity being wine. Norwegian authorities seized more than 5 000 litres of vodka smuggled in a trailer.

Horse Meat
Participating countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, UK
As a response to this dangerous criminal trend, Europol launched a dedicated project to support national authorities in combating the sale of illegal horse meat, led by Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands and supported by DG SANTE.
The operational activities focused on checks of documents of more than 157 000 horses from eight countries and about 117 tonnes of horse meat. Live animals and more than 17 tonnes of horse meat were seized from several slaughterhouses in Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Inspections of slaughterhouses in several countries showed that about 20% of the foreign passports used for these horses showed signs of forgery. Competition horses with forged documents were also sent to slaughterhouses.

Seafood

Illicit seafood products were reported in 79 cases, and, according to the data, the quantity seized was around 42.6  tonnes of products, estimated at around USD 591,094. Two arrests and two search warrants have been carried out in  connection with this category of product. Higher seizures were reported by Portugal, who in several higher seizures totaled about 29.8 tonnes of cod, sole, manta fish, bivalve mollusks, cuttlefish and octopus. Italy 3 tonnes of unspecified seafood, Jordan, 1.9 tonnes of unspecified fish and Belgium one ton of dried shrimp, the average for all the other seizures being somewhere at around 116 kg/seizure.

Food safety and deceiving consumers were the main infringements reported this year. The food items were seized when turned out to be species substitutions, for example Alaskan plaice instead of sole fish, various types of other fish posing as Atlantic/Pacific cod, packaging issues (adding water to frozen scallops to increase weight), mislabeling the product (generic commercial name instead of the exact species) or expired products.  In Italy, in one seizure, the authorities found in a marketplace counterfeit labels falsely stating that the fish products  were coming from a certain plant, while in South Africa the invoice of several seafood products stated personal  protection equipment (masks and gloves) related to COVID-19. The investigation revealed that the foreign citizen dealing  with the goods had no import permit and was illegally staying in South Africa.

Canada - Listeria Related Recalls in July

There were three recalls of food products due to Listeria. One for zucchini strips and the other two for cheese products.

https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/inspection/2021/76093r-eng.php
Harvest Fresh brand Zucchini Spirals recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes
Ottawa, July 25, 2021 - Veg Pak Produce is recalling Harvest Fresh brand Zucchini Spirals from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
This recall was triggered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) test results

https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/inspection/2021/76091r-eng.php
Cahill's brand Original Irish Porter Cheese recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes
Ottawa, July 23, 2021 - Tree of Life Canada ULC is recalling Cahill's brand Original Irish Porter Cheese from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled products described below.
This recall was triggered by the company. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products.

https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/inspection/2021/76049r-eng.php
La Bella Contadina brand Burrata Nadi con latte di bufala (cheese) recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes
Ottawa, July 17, 2021 - The food recall warning issued on July 14, 2021 has been updated to include additional product information. This additional information was identified during the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) food safety investigation.
Fruiterie Milano Inc. is recalling La Bella Contadina brand Burrata Nadi con latte di bufala (cheese) from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled product described below.
This recall was triggered by CFIA test results.

FDA Warning Letter - Foreign Producer of Rice Protien

FDA issued a warning letter to Panjin Hetian Food Co of China after inspection of the rice protein powder found deficiencies.  Specifically, the firm "did not identify contamination with environmental pathogens, such as Salmonella, as a known or reasonably foreseeable hazard to determine whether it requires a preventive control for RTE rice protein powder. A hazard evaluation must include an evaluation of environmental pathogens whenever a RTE food is exposed to the environment prior to packaging and the packaged food does not receive a treatment or otherwise include a control measure (21 CFR 117.130(c)(1)(ii)). Your facility manufactures rice protein, a RTE food which is exposed to the environment after a (b)(4) treatment prior to packaging. Once packaged, the food does not receive a lethal treatment or otherwise include a control measure (such as a formulation lethal to the pathogen or control by the supply chain or a downstream customer) that would significantly minimize the pathogen."

The firm was not conducting adequate environmental monitoring and the cleaning procedures were not appropriate for a dry processing facility.

https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/panjin-hetian-food-co-ltd-614617-07072021
WARNING LETTER

Europe - Large Salmonella Outbreak Linked to South American Melons

Across Europe, there has been 348 cases of Salmonella (posted July 22, 2021) associated with melons.   "Based on epidemiological, microbiological and traceability investigations, the vehicles of infection are presumed to be melons imported from outside the EU/EEA and the UK. Galia melons from the batch imported from a Honduran producer are probable vehicles of infection, at least in those cases reporting having consumed Galia melons."  The strain identified as S. Braenderup.

Harvesting was completed back in April and there are no longer any of this product on the market.

I find it interesting that the food safety authority in the EU had scant information for this rather large outbreak.  

EFSA
Multi‐country outbreak of Salmonella Braenderup ST22, presumed to be linked to imported melons | European Food Safety Authority (europa.eu)
Multi‐country outbreak of Salmonella Braenderup ST22, presumed to be linked to imported melons
Published:  22 July 2021
Adopted:16 July 2021