Four years after tainted eggs caused a nationwide salmonella outbreak that sickened 62,000 people, the Iowa farm responsible for those ill-fated ovules has agreed to pay $6.8 million in fines for selling old eggs under false labels for years. [More]
food safety
Egg Company Agrees To Pay $6.8M Fine In Connection To Salmonella Outbreak That Sickened 62,000
By 6.3.14
Hummus Sold At Target, Trader Joe’s, Giant Eagle Recalled For Potential Listeria Contamination
By 5.23.14
Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can have unpleasant consequences for most people, and serious, life-threatening consequences for people who are very old, very young, already ill, or who are pregnant. A company called Lansal, Inc. that manufactures hummus for Tryst Gourmet and the private-label brands of retailers Target, Trader Joe’s, and Giant Eagle, reports that the pathogen may be in their hummus and related products. [More]
Food Poisoning Suspected After More Than 100 People Fall Ill During Food Safety Summit
By 4.30.14
While some of our nation’s brightest food minds were gathered at a Food Safety Summit in Maryland earlier this month, the very thing they came together to discuss seems to have wreaked havoc on more than 100 people attending. In what can only be a prank from the food gods, it appears food poisoning is one of the suspected culprits, officials say. [More]
Fish Is So Fresh At Costco, One Package Of Cod Still Had A Live Worm Wriggling Around In It
By 3.21.14
Because most of us don’t buy our fish straight off the dock, finding a worm with your fresh fish is bound to be a bit of a surprising event. And while a Costco customer’s video of a fresh package of cod doesn’t show the kind of wriggling worm you’d put on a hook, seeing a parasitic nematode snuggled in there is still enough to warrant a “careful if you’re eating lunch while reading this” warning. [More]
Man Suing Outback Steakhouse Because Mashed Potatoes Shouldn’t Include Broken Dishes
By 2.20.14
While you might be the kind of person who prefers a couple lumps in your mashed potatoes, any lump that’s hard and feels like a bit of plate is an unwelcome addition. That’s what a man suing Outback Steakhouse in Oregon is claiming: He says he broke two teeth as he bit into mashed potatoes at the restaurant. [More]
FDA Announces Proposed Rule To Safeguard Food During Transportation
By 1.31.14
No on likes salmonella in their peanuts or listeria on their cantaloupe, or in any of their food for that matter. While contamination can occur in just about every step of the food production process, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking the final steps to make sure the transportation of food isn’t the problem by setting new criteria for the transport of food. [More]
FDA Proposes New Rules To Make Pet Food More Acceptable
By 10.25.13
Great news for animals who like non-poisonous food! Fresh on the heels of the Food and Drug Administration’s plea for help in solving the mystery of why pet treats imported from China have allegedly killed more than 600 dogs and a few cats, today the agency proposed new rules to protect animal food from contamination from microbes, toxic chemicals, and other scary contaminants. [More]
This Is Why You Should Throw Away Those Old Green Potatoes
By 10.25.13
If you leave potatoes sitting in in your cupboard for too long, they might sprout or turn green, but it’s not like eating old vegetables is going to kill you or anything. Wait, it can? It can cause symptoms ranging from a tummyache to hallucinations to death? And that’s happened quite a few times throughout history? Well, crap. [More]
Cantaloupe Farmers Plead Guilty To Charges Linked To Listeria Outbreak
By 10.22.13
Despite an earlier plan to plead not guilty in federal court, two Colorado farmers whose cantaloupes were linked to the 2011 listeria outbreak that killed 33 people pleaded guilty today to misdemeanor charges. [Associated Press] [More]
Are CDC’s Detectives At Work During Shutdown While Salmonella Outbreak Sickens Hundreds?
By 10.8.13 — Updated: 10.9.13
Often when we hear news of a food-borne disease, the worst has passed and the government works to educate consumers on which products have been recalled. However with 278 people in 18 states sickened by a salmonella outbreak linked to raw chicken products from California, no recall has been announced and the United States Department of Agriculture says “the outbreak is continuing.” But are any of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s elite food detectives at work during the government shutdown to trace track down the source of the contamination? [More]
USDA Investigating Food Giant Sysco After Report Claimed It Kept Meat, Dairy In Dirty Sheds
By 10.1.13 — Updated: 10.31.13
Where do you keep your raw meats, dairy and produce at home? In an old, dirty, rusted and unrefrigerated container? No, you put them in a properly cooled refrigerator, which is more than what food giant Sysco was doing, claimed a San Francisco news station’s investigation back in July. Now the United States Department of Agriculture is looking into Sysco after it received a complaint from a local meat trade association. [More]
Chobani Declares ‘Voluntary Recall’ Of Exploding Moldy Yogurts
By 9.5.13 — Updated: 9.7.13
Chobani’s recall of mold-contaminated yogurts has been promoted to a voluntary recall. “Over 95% of the units in question have already been identified and removed from retailer shelves,” claims the company. [More]
Chobani: Exploding Yogurts Caused By Mold At Idaho Plant
By 9.4.13 — Updated: 9.7.13
The “quality issue” that has led Greek yogurt maker Chobani to pull products from stores has an explanation: mold. Customers who ate the affected yogurt aren’t thrilled to hear this news, since the company continues to call the funny-tasting yogurt plague a “quality issue” rather than a food safety problem. Customers who claim that they or their children got sick from Chobani products are not pleased. [More]
Uh-Oh, These Chicken Broth Cans Contain Spaghetti-Os
By 9.3.13 — Updated: 10.1.13
Do you have any 14.5-ounce cans of Swanson chicken broth around the house? You might have a strange but tasty surprise in store once you open up the can. Thanks to a mixup at the factory, 80 cases of cans labeled “Swanson broth” are actually Spaghetti-Os with meatballs. Campbell’s has warned customers not to eat the surprise pasta, which makes us sad. [More]
Chobani Pulls Gross Yogurts Off Store Shelves, Not A Recall
By 9.3.13 — Updated: 9.5.13
Have your Chobani yogurts tasted kind of weird recently? You aren’t alone. Yogurt lovers all over the country have reported oddness that ranges from “that tastes a little off” to “AAAAH WHY IS MY YOGURT CUP BULGING?!” After receiving (and deleting) a lot of complaints on their Facebook page, the company quietly pulled affected batches from stores, but there’s no official recall on. [More]
Quit Washing Your Chicken: It Just Sprays Germs Everywhere
By 8.26.13 — Updated: 8.11.14
Generations of American cooks are wrong. They learned their wrongity wrongity wrong habits from their parents, or from public television’s Julia Child. Their terrible, filthy habit is rinsing poultry before cooking. Public health experts estimate that as many as 90% of Americans do it, and they want us to cut it out. [More]
Airport Eatery Says It’ll Totally Switch To Vendor That Doesn’t Top Bread With Maggots
By 8.8.13
Never mind locally-sourced, fresh-from-the-farm ingredients — is it too much to ask that an airport sandwich not have maggots in it? An eatery at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta says it’s going to switch vendors after a customer claimed to have been sold food with a side order of maggots. [More]
FDA Finally Realizes Maybe It’s Time To Do A Better Job Of Improving The Safety Of Imported Foods
By 7.26.13
Perhaps your kitchen is only stocked with locally sourced organic food, but around 15% of what Americans eat — including half the fresh fruit, one-fifth of fresh veggies and 80% of fish — comes from around 150 different countries. So, finally getting around to implementing changes mandated by the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the Food and Drug Administration has proposed a couple rules aimed at beefing up controls on imported edibles. [More]
