The FDA has announced that they have independently confirmed that the seasoning used in “veggie booty” is contaminated with salmonella. The outbreak, which has now sickened 61 children from 19 states, continues to grow. Please, stop feeding “Veggie Booty” to your children. Salmonella can cause serious infections that are sometimes fatal in young children.
contamination
Cardboard A Main Ingredient In One Chinese Food
By 7.12.07
The AP reports that Chinese State TV has uncovered a “steamed bun” making operation in one Beijing neighborhood that uses pieces of cardboard collected from the street and softened with caustic soda as the main ingredient. From the AP:
The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.
"Veggie Booty's" Salmonella Seasoning Contains Contaminated Ingredients From China
By 7.5.07
Robert’s American has “pinpointed” the source of the salmonella ingredients: China. According to the company, the seasoning for Veggie Booty and the recently-added-to-the-recall snack “Super Veggie Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks” is made from ingredients that are primarily imported from China.
Safeway Continues To Sell Contaminated "Veggie Booty"
By 7.5.07
Reader Scott tells us that his Mother-In-Law purchased “Veggie Booty” from the Safeway in Roseville, CA on July 4. Veggie Booty has been linked to 52 cases of salmonella across 17 states, and has been recalled nationwide.
FDA: Veggie Booty Snack Food Contaminated With Salmonella
By 6.29.07
The FDA is warning consumers not to eat Veggie Booty snack food, because there is a risk of salmonella contamination. Reader Ethan asked us to announce this recall because “Pretty much everyone I know who has a toddler buys this stuff.” We’d never heard of it, but Salon.com calls it “crack for babies” and says it smells “funkier than poop.” Ok.
China Shuts Down 180 Factories Using Illegal Chemicals In Food
By 6.27.07
Formaldehyde, illegal dyes, and industrial wax were found being used to make candy, pickles, crackers and seafood, it said, citing Han Yi, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which is responsible for food safety.
Taco Bell Employee Allegedly Spit, Urinated in Food
By 6.25.07
A family from Sidney, Iowa has filed suit against the owners of a KFC/Taco Bell after they were served food that was allegedly contaminated by an employee. According to the lawsuit, the couple’s 4 year-old son became “violently ill” after being served food that had been contaminated by an employee who “maintained ‘special servings'” of food contaminated with urine and saliva so that it could be fed to unsuspecting police officers.
Menu Foods Bullies Pet Owners To Settle Food Contamination Lawsuits
By 5.29.07
Menu Foods’ latest strategy to become the most hated company since Halliburton has revealed itself in some interesting court papers.
Walmart, Menu Foods, Del Monte Sued Over Pet Food Debacle
By 5.18.07
Schwinger alleges that his dog Sandy, an otherwise healthy 2-year-old, had to be euthanized as a result of eating Menu Foods’ Ol’ Roy Pet Food and Del Monte’s Canine Carry-out Bacon Bite, which were purchased at a Wal-Mart store in Cassville.
Walmart Pulls Contaminated Frozen Catfish From China
By 4.28.07
Fluoroquinolone was reportedly banned by the FDA in 1997, but Florida food safety experts officials told CBS-4’s Al Sunshine that it is not an imminent threat to public health and it’s more of an issue of keeping unneeded antibiotics out of the human food supply.
Contaminated Pet Food Linked To 30% Increase In Feline Kidney Failure
By 4.10.07
The veterinary hospital chain saw 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase when compared with background rates. It’s not clear if those animals ate the contaminated food, though it seems likely.
FDA: Dog Chews Contaminated With Salmonella
By 4.6.07
The FDA is warning that certain dog chews have been contaminated with salmonella. The product in question, American Bullie A.B. Bull Pizzle Puppy Chews and Dog Chews, were manufactured by T.W. Enterprises of Ferndale, Washington.
Onion Farm Sues Taco Bell For Besmirching The Good Name Of Their Onions
By 3.27.07
Taco Bell’s former green onion supplier is suing Taco Bell for libel after the taco giant incorrectly linked green onions to the e. coli scare that sickened more than 70 people last year.
FDA Introduces Fresh-Cut Produce Guidelines
By 3.12.07
The FDA noted fresh-cut or prepackaged produce like spinach, lettuce and fruit is the fastest-growing segment of the $12 billion annual produce industry.
Consumerist Contamination of Ghana
By 1.4.06
Over at the New York Times, Princeton philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah has written an extremely thoughtful look on the cultural and consumerist “contamination” of traditional Ghanaian life. There’s so many good quotes in it, we could just go nuts with the blockquote tags, but overall, it is a remarkably fair piece on the recent influx of Western media and products into a largely agrarian, tribal African country; a piece on contamination, unlike most, that doesn’t sneer at third-world consumers as unthinking automatons too ignorant and unworldly to see their kente cloths as more “authentic” than imported Levis, but people who make cultural and consumerist choices based upon their own free desires, and who should be encouraged to continue doing so as the drivers of their own cultural destiny.
