Amazon Discusses Monitoring for Food Safety Issues and Conducting Recalls

An interesting read in Food Engineering Magazine on how Amazon scans consumer complaints for food safety issues and how the company handles recalls.  

With over 300 million customers worldwide, the company moves a lot of product.  And with that, there will be complaints.  But going through "16 million pieces of customer feedback per week, in more than 40 languages" to find issues is not easy.   In addition, there are postings on social media sites and product reviews. The company employs machine learning computer systems that go beyond keyword identification to understand "context, sentiment, and sentence structure."

For recalls, the company uses emails to contact customers  with instructions for return and if relevant, a refund.  The success rate with emails is stated as 68.8 percent of the messages sent were opened.
The company also quarantines inventory preventing the product from being shipped or reordered.  Then the company also removes inventory from the supply chain by returning or destroying products.

Food Engineering Magazine
https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/97693-how-amazon-handles-food-safety-recalls
How Amazon handles food safety, recalls
Amazon VP Careltt Ooton explains how the company uses Natural Language Processing to scan customer feedback and constantly monitor for food safety issues
August 17, 2018
Crystal Lindell

Sandwich Purveyor Issues Another Recall After FDA Finds Listeria

Lipari Foods is recalling packaged premade sandwiches (turkey and cheese wedge) produced and packaged by the sister company JLM due to potential contamination of Listeria monocytogenes.  "This was brought to our attention by JLM after additional environmental testing initiated by the Food and Drug Administration following a previous recall returned positive test results for potential contamination of Listeria monocytogenes."  This previous recall occurred in July. 

FDA was probably keeping an eye on this operation after the last outbreak. 

https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm617762.htm
Lipari Foods Issues Voluntary Recall of Premo Brand Turkey & Cheese Wedge Sandwiches Because of Possible Health Risk
For Immediate Release
August 21, 2018

This Week in Mislabeled Products - Week Ending August 18, 2018

Cookies Recalled After Undeclared Peanuts Found -  Marsee Baking is voluntarily recalling chocolate chip, ginger spice, and oatmeal raisin cookies sold at Café Yumm! restaurants because the cookies may contain undeclared peanuts.  The voluntary recall was initiated after discovering peanuts in a chocolate chip cookie before it was served. The voluntary recall includes all cookies in the event other batches and flavors may contain peanuts.

Ice Cream Recalled After Chocolate Ingredient Recalled for Peanuts - Salt & Straw Ice Cream is voluntarily recalling a limited number of its Chocolate Gooey Brownie pints because it may contain undeclared peanuts. The recall was initiated after receiving notification from the chocolate supplier, Pitch Dark Chocolate, that the chocolate chips used in the Chocolate Gooey Brownie may have had possible cross-contact with a peanut allergen.

https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm617097.htm
Marsee Baking Issues Allergy Alert On Undeclared Peanuts In Cookies Sold At Café Yumm! Restaurants
For Immediate Release
August 15, 2018

Establishment Selling Smoothies (and "Home" Made Cooked Pork) Responsible for Salmonella Outbreak

Seven people in Washington state were infected with Salmonella after eating at Burien Fresh Smoothies.

A source of the Salmonella has not yet been identified, however, one major violation was observed - "Investigators found that the restaurant was serving cooked pork prepared at the restaurant owner's home, which is not an approved food safety practice. The restaurant was directed to immediately stop serving pork-based food items and to remove them from their menu."

This practice could be responsible if Salmonella was in the pork or on the packaging.  Could be that the smoothies used fresh produce that was not properly washed.  If he brought the pork from home, perhaps he bought the strawberries from Uncle Jimmy, who grew them in his garden fertilized with fresh manure.

King County (WA) Public Health Notice
https://kingcounty.gov/depts/health/communicable-diseases/disease-control/outbreak/burien-fresh-smoothies-2018-Aug.aspx
Salmonella outbreak associated with Burien Fresh Smoothies in Burien

Contamination Found in Cheese, Don't Worry, the Cheese is 15,000 Years Old

Researchers found remnants of cheese in an Egyptian tomb, dating about 13th century BC.  Along with the cheese, they found "peptides in the food sample suggest it was contaminated with Brucella melitensis, a bacterium that causes brucellosis. This potentially deadly disease spreads from animals to people, typically from eating unpasteurized dairy products. If the team’s preliminary analysis is confirmed, the sample would represent the earliest reported biomolecular evidence of the disease."

It is rumored that foodborne illness lawyers have been canvasing locals to see if they had very distant ancestors who may have fallen mysteriously ill as well as rooting through tombs to see if any mummies have the same pathogen markers.

ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: Wed Aug 15 12:58:45 EDT 2018
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2018/acs-presspac-august-15-2018/worlds-oldest-cheese-found-in-egyptian-tomb.html

World’s oldest cheese found in Egyptian tomb

Cause Of Chipotle Outbreak is C. perfringens - Indicating Improper Food Handling Practices

A few weeks back, a Chipotle restaurant in Ohio was the site of a foodborne illness outbreak where 647 people were reported as being affected.  The cause of the outbreak was found to be Clostridium perfringens contamination, based on testing of those who became ill.  Investigators were not however, able to find the exact food source.

The fact it was a Clostridium perfringens outbreak is an indicator of a bad food handling practice.  C. perfringens becomes an issue when cooked food is held at an improper temperature (probably in the  80F and 110 range) for a long time.  For example...beef used in a burrito.  The meat is cooked, but spores of C. perfringnes survive.   Not a problem if meat is cooled rapidly and refrigerated or kept hot (>135F).  But if that meat is left out on the counter over night and then warmed for serving....boom.  The organism grows to high numbers (infectious dose >10E6, infects the person in high numbers, produces toxin in the gut, and then in about 16 hours..it is watery diarrhea and cramps for 12 to 24 hrs.   At that point, you are thinking #@$%! burritos.

When news was released, many thought it was Norovirus, which even a good facility can have an issue when a worker is a carrier but doesnt know..  But C. perfringens...that is just bad food handling practices.  A sign that a restaurant is not keeping an eye on the ball.  And with that many people ill, that means that there was a lot of product that was temperature abused.

The company announced that food workers will be required to do quarterly online training and assessment.  "The test is an "e-learning type module that all employees will be required to complete on a quarterly basis in addition to their daily food safety routines and annual food safety training," Chipotle spokeswoman Laurie Schalow told Business Insider on Thursday. The company also said Thursday it will retrain all employees on top food-safety priorities. The training will begin next week during employees' shifts at restaurants across the United States."

Meatingplace.com
http://www.meatingplace.com/Industry/News/Details/81187
Health officials identify pathogen in Ohio Chipotle outbreak
By Susan Kelly on 8/17/2018

Canada - Packaged RTE Baby Spinach Recalled After CFIA Detects Listeria

In Canada, Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc. is recalling of Dole brand Baby Spinach with Tender Reds from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination  This recall was triggered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) test results. The CFIA is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2018-08-08/eng/1533739123858/1533739125149
Food Safety Warning - Dole brand Baby Spinach with Tender Reds recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes

This Week in Mislabeled Product - Week Ending August 11. 2018

"Country Favor Inc. of Maspeth, New York is recalling its 7 ounce packages of “Best Taste Brand Snack Ginger Sliced” food treats because they contained undeclared sulfites. The recall was initiated after routine sampling by New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Food Inspectors and subsequent analysis by Food Laboratory personnel revealed the presence of sulfites in the 7 ounce package of “Best Taste Brand Snack Ginger Sliced” which were not declared on the label...... The consumption of 10 milligrams of sulfites per serving has been reported to elicit severe reactions in some asthmatics. Anaphylactic shock could occur in certain sulfite sensitive individuals upon ingesting 10 milligrams or more of sulfites. Analysis of the “Best Taste Brand Snack Ginger Sliced” revealed they contained 94.8 milligrams per serving."

https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm616303.htm
"Country Favor Inc Issues Alert on Undeclared Sulfites in “Best Taste Brand Snack Ginger Sliced”
For Immediate Release
August 6, 2018

Who Knew? Think Twice Before Drinking from the Garden Hose

A news report from Hawaii where rat lungworm, a parasitic infection, can be spread when an infected snail, one of the parasite hosts, climbs into the garden hose and then one drink water from the hose.  Okay, this parasite is not common in the continental US, but is common in Hawaii and has been found in Louisiana and Florida.  That is not to say it can't make its way to other states, because while the one definitive host is the snail, the other definitive host is the rat.

Still, something to consider before taking that gulp of water from a hose that has been laying on the ground for weeks.....you never know what could have crawled in there.

From the CDC:

• "Angiostrongylus costaricensis is a parasitic nematode (worm) that resides in rodents and uses mollusks, such as slugs, as an intermediate host. Rats, such as the cotton rat, transmit the larvae through their feces. Slugs then ingest the larvae. Humans are accidental hosts of the parasite. The parasite is not able to complete its life cycle in humans and eventually dies in the abdomen.  "
•  "In humans, juvenile worms [can] migrate to the brain, or rarely in the lungs, where the worms ultimately die." 
• "Most cases of infection are diagnosed in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin, but the parasite has also been found in Australia, some areas of Africa, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Louisiana."  [It has also been found in Florida]. 
• "Very few cases have been reported in the continental United States. In 1993, a boy in New Orleans got infected by swallowing a raw snail “on a dare. ” The type of snail he swallowed isn’t known. He became ill a few weeks later, with muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, a slight fever, and vomiting. His symptoms went away in about 2 weeks, without treatment of the infection."

Local News
Health officials warn parents: Don't let your kids drink from the garden hose
By:
Terri Inefuku
Posted: May 12, 2017 03:44 PM HST
Updated: May 12, 2017 03:44 PM HST