Update: This recall has expanded to include many types of vegetables, including store-branded products from Target, Walmart, Albertsons, and other chains. Check your salad mix before you sit down to your next crunchy bowl of shredded kohlrabi, cabbage, and beets: Bags of that blend from Trader Joe’s that were distributed nationwide have been recalled because they may contain Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborne illness that can have potentially deadly complications. [More]
food poisoning
FDA Sprout Study Finds Bacterial Contamination, But You Can Still Eat Sprouts
By 8.22.17
How do you keep contaminated food from reaching consumers? The Food and Drug Administration recently set out on a project to test fresh foods that are often the subject of recalls, hoping to learn how common bacterial contamination is and how to prevent these foods from making people sick. This week, it released its report on sprouts, a fresh salad topping that makes people sick surprisingly often. [More]
One Victim Dead In Gas Station Cheese Botulism Outbreak, Case Still Under Investigation
By 5.23.17
One of the people who contracted botulism from nacho cheese sauce served in a California gas station has died. The state health department is still trying to figure out how the store’s cheese became contaminated with a very rare and incredibly deadly pathogen. [More]
Soy Butter Company Behind 12-State E. Coli Outbreak Goes Bankrupt
By 5.17.17
SoyNut Butter Co., the company behind contaminated soy butter that made at least 32 people sick with E. coli and triggered a nationwide recall has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning it has no intention of sticking around. [More]
Health Officials Investigating After Restaurant’s Apple Juice Burns Kids
By 3.6.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
We’ve heard of kids accidentally being served alcohol at restaurants before, but according to police in Pennsylvania, three kids complained that their throats and mouths were burning after drinking what was supposed to be apple juice at a Chinese buffet restaurant. [More]
Restaurant Where 260 Diners Got Ill On Thanksgiving Has Closed Its Doors
By 2.21.17
Last Thanksgiving, hundreds of people who ate at one western New York restaurant fell ill thanks to what local health officials later determined was gravy containing the bacteria Clostridium perfringens. Some of those sickened diners have now filed lawsuits, and now the eatery is shutting its doors for good. [More]
Pre-Cut, Bagged Salad May Actually Contribute To Growth Of Salmonella
By 11.18.16
Salads are among the most common sources of foodborne illness, and we’ve repeatedly seen how pre-cut, bagged salad products can harbor ugly pathogens like listeria or salmonella. A new scientific study finds that pre-cutting these leafy vegetables may actually be contributing to the growth of salmonella. [More]
Three Gourmet Ice Cream Brands Recalled For Possible Listeria
By 11.11.16
Being fancy and expensive is no guarantee against contamination, which is a lesson that all food processors should learn. This week’s recall is of gourmet ice cream from the brands Agave Dream, L.A. Creamery, and Nancy’s, all of which came from the same co-packing facility, and all of which may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. [More]
More Than 150 People Were Sick From Bacteria In Refried Beans At Mighty Taco
By 10.18.16
Bacteria in refried beans sold at a regional taco chain has been blamed for gastrointestinal illness in around 150 customers, and now state officials have confirmed the pathogen to blame and the food that it was in. It’s Bacillus cereus, bacteria that builds up in food that has sat out for too long at room temperature. It causes diarrhea or vomiting, and has a short incubation period: you can start barfing within half an hour. [More]
CDC Concludes General Mills Flour Investigation, But People Will Still Get Sick
By 9.30.16
You might remember the General Mills flour recall from earlier this year, where a massive amount of flour was recalled because it was potentially contaminated with E. coli, bacteria found in feces and in soil that can cause bloody diarrhea and life-threatening complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that its investigation of the outbreak is over, but that people will keep getting sick. [More]
Massive Frozen Vegetable Recall May Not Be So Bad Because People Cook Vegetables
By 5.20.16
Have you gone through all of the frozen vegetables and packaged food in your house to ensure that they aren’t on the list of items potentially contaminated by Listeria in an outbreak dating back to 2013? Yeah, me either, and I don’t even have a lot of frozen vegetables. That’s what public health officials are worried about: that people won’t check their freezers and could get sick years from now, with Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborne illness that is especially dangerous. [More]
Chipotle Lures Customers Back With Free Burritos That Don’t Make Them Sick
By 4.25.16
What’s the best way to prove to the American public that your food won’t make them sick? Convince them to try your food again, and don’t make them sick. That’s been Chipotle’s recovery plan, and it’s working pretty well. In addition to serving up raincheck burritos (in exchange for capturing your phone number) the company also sent out coupons offering free entrées, free sides, and free beverages to lure customers back. According to one firm’s research, this plan worked. [More]
Stock Analysts Believe That Chipotle Sales Will Be Down This Quarter For Some Reason
By 11.23.15
Are people heading somewhere other than Chipotle when a burrito craving strikes them? Stock analysts think so: while the company won’t release their fourth-quarter sales results for another few months, the after-effects of what is now a six-state E. coli outbreak will keep at least some customers out of restaurants for the immediate future. Especially if the chain and public health officials aren’t able to figure out what caused the outbreak. [More]
The FDA Will Now Have Oversight Of Fresh Produce Safety Before Anyone Gets Sick
By 11.13.15
No one expects to add more fresh fruit and vegetables to their diet and end up with a stomach bug, a serious illness, or dead. Yet that’s beginning to happen, with multi-state outbreaks of food-borne illness, especially in items like fruit and salad greens that are generally eaten without cooking, and apparently not washed sufficiently. The Food and Drug Administration wants to change that. [More]
43 Chipotle Restaurants In Oregon And Washington State Close Due To E. Coli Outbreak
By 10.31.15
There’s a promotion at Chipotle tonight where people who wear costumes that include something extra, or a scary “unnecessary additive,” get burritos for $3. Yet restaurants in two states have closed today “out of an abundance of caution” because of something even scarier: an apparent outbreak of Shiga toxin E. coli in recent weeks at six restaurants in Oregon and Washington. [More]
The CDC Redesigned Its Database For Looking Up Foodborne Illness Outbreaks
By 10.20.15
The question of who is in charge of a given foodborne outbreak can become complicated in the United States: responsibility for testing and recalling different food types and for tracing infectious diseases is split between three federal government and numerous state and local government agencies. Yet there is one great tool that the infectious disease experts over at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have given us: The FOOD database. [More]
Salmonella-Contaminated Cucumbers Have Killed 3 People, Hospitalized 112
By 9.24.15
Salad is supposed to be beneficial to your health, but hundreds of people across the country have become sick due to their taste for fresh cucumbers. While the veggies’ supplier and one distributor have recalled affected batches of vegetables, and reports of new infections have slowed down, the outbreak has still made 558 people sick, sent 112 to the hospital, and now three people have died. [More]
How Can I Avoid Getting Sick From Listeria-Contaminated Food?
By 6.5.15
Listeria-contaminated food has been in the news lately due to massive ice cream recalls from regional companies Blue Bell and Jeni’s. Ice cream isn’t usually where you find listeria, but it’s possible to contract listeriosis from frozen treats because the bacteria can survive below-freezing temperatures, and you don’t cook ice cream. How can you avoid illness from listeria? There are no guaranteed ways to eradicate it from the food supply, but there are precautions that you can take. [More]
