Atkins Granola Bar Warning - Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Granola bar may contain contaminated peanuts: CFIA

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned the public on Wednesday not to eat the Atkins Advantage Peanut Butter Granola Bar because it may be contaminated with salmonella.

The granola bar, manufactured in Canada, comes in 48-gram packages and carries best-before dates of June 6, 2009, and July 19, 2009.

The agency said the granola bar contains peanut products that have been recalled in the U.S. and Canada by the Peanut Corporation of America as a result of a salmonella outbreak that has made 600 people sick in the U.S. The outbreak may be linked to eight deaths.

Canadians were also warned not to consume chocolate-covered peanuts, including sugar-free ones, sold in unmarked, clear plastic, cone-shaped containers with gold foil tops, by Golden Chocolate in Lakeshore, Ont.

The chocolate-covered peanuts, manufactured in the U.S., come in 220-gram and 440-gram packages.

The warning also applies to Sunbird Snacks yogurt trail mix, health mix and chocolate peanut butter blast, all manufactured in the U.S. but which may have been available in Canada.

"This is an ongoing food safety investigation," the agency said in a news release Wednesday.

The agency said it is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to identify and remove all affected products imported into Canada from the U.S.

CFIA is also working with Canadian manufacturers to recall foods containing affected U.S. peanuts.

The salmonella outbreak has led to the recall of more than 1,800 products in the U.S. and more than 200 products in Canada.

Peanut Corp. is currently being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the U.S. Its corporate headquarters in Lynchburg, Va., were raided by the FBI on the weekend, and two of its plants, one in Georgia and the other in Texas, have been closed while the investigation continues.

It makes only about one per cent of U.S. peanut products, but its ingredients are used by dozens of other food companies.

Source: CBC.ca

Peanut Snack Bar Recall

Peanut snack bar added to Canadian recall over salmonell

Canadians should not eat a brand of chocolate-dipped honey peanut bar, the latest salmonella-linked product that's part of a growing recall of peanut products in the United States.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it has expanded a voluntary recall to include another snack food made in the U.S.

Isagenix's Chocolate Dipped Honey Peanut IsaLean Bar in 2.29 oz or 65 gram size contains peanut butter or peanut paste recalled in the U.S. by Peanut Corporation of America, CFIA said.

The bars may have been distributed nationally, the agency said.

No reported illnesses are associated with consumption of the bars.

Investigators in the U.S. have traced the outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium to a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga.

More than 400 kinds of cakes, cookies, ice cream, other snack foods, Asian-style sauces and dog biscuits have been recalled in the outbreak.

Company 'devastated'

More than 500 people in the U.S. have fallen ill in the outbreak, which may have contributed to eight deaths.

On Wednesday, the Peanut Corp. expanded its recall to all peanut products produced at the Georgia plant since Jan. 1, 2007, as a precaution.

"We have been devastated by this, and we have been working around the clock with the FDA to ensure any potentially unsafe products are removed from the market immediately," Peanut Corp. of America president Stewart Parnel said in a statement late Wednesday.

Company officials are co-operating with state and federal officials, he added.

'One of the largest recalls we've had'

There have been calls for a criminal investigation into the company, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that is premature and the agency's investigation continues.

"We feel very confident that it's one of the largest recalls we've had," said Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's food safety centre. "We're still in the process of identifying products, but it certainly is among the largest."

The expanded recall includes contamination with salmonella strains not associated with the current outbreak, Sundlof told a telephone briefing with reporters.

"The additional salmonella strains discovered at this plant underscore that this plant was shipping adulterated product, but as for now we are not aware of any illnesses connected to any other salmonella strains shown at this facility," Michael Rogers, head of FDA's field investigations, told reporters.

FDA inspection reports showed problems including live cockroaches, mould and signs of a leaking roof at the Georgia plant.

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Source: CBC.ca

Hot Peppers Implicated in Salmonella Outbreak

U.S. food agency says consumers should avoid jalapenos from Mexico only

Only jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico are implicated in the countrywide salmonella outbreak, the government announced Friday in clearing the U.S. crop.

The Food and Drug Administration urged consumers to avoid raw Mexican jalapenos and the serrano peppers often confused with them, or dishes made with them such as fresh salsa.

But the big question is how those who love hot peppers would know where the chiles came from, especially in restaurant food.

"You're going to have to ask the person you're buying it from," said Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's food safety chief, who is advising restaurants and grocery stores to know their suppliers and pass that information to customers.

The big break in an outbreak that now has sickened nearly 1,300 people came on Monday, when FDA announced it had found the same strain of salmonella responsible for the outbreak on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno in a south Texas produce warehouse.

Tomatoes had been the prime suspect for weeks. And while those now on the market are considered safe to eat, health officials still haven't exonerated them from causing illnesses when the outbreak began in April.

The pepper discovery threatened to paralyze that industry, too. Chile production is a $500 million crop in New Mexico alone, which produces most of the U.S. crop, state agriculture commissioners wrote the FDA on Thursday.

Friday's move clearing U.S. peppers came because clusters of illnesses around the country all seem to be tracing back to Mexican jalapenos, though not all sold through the McAllen, Texas, produce warehouse, Acheson said.

"Domestically grown products are not tracing back at all to the outbreak," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "On Monday, we didn't know exactly where they all were coming from. Today we're certain these are coming from Mexico."

FDA inspectors are on the farm that grew the only tainted pepper discovered so far, trying to determine where else it sent a harvest that began in April, Acheson said. The farm is large, but the question now is whether it harvested enough to be responsible for such a geographically large outbreak.

Mexican officials blasted the announcement as premature, saying the fact that no additional salmonella was found in the Texas warehouse doesn't eliminate that site as a suspect.

"Both U.S. and Mexican tomato producers are still dealing with the impact of premature public information given by the FDA in the past, and we expect the FDA to present solid scientific evidence to back today's announcement as soon as possible," said Ricardo Alday, spokesman for the Mexican embassy in Washington.

The news is a relief for U.S. pepper growers.

"It's good news, late in the process. It's an announcement they should have made some days ago," said John McClung of the Texas Produce Association.

He called the warning still too broad, because many peppers from Mexico are grown on farms in regions not implicated.

At the same time, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are retracing the probe's early steps to see if jalapenos were missed early on, or if tomatoes did indeed play a role. Initial reports from the first ill in New Mexico and Texas provided a strong link to tomatoes, but salsa was eaten, too, with less attention paid to its other ingredients.

"We're still very interested in looking at the role tomatoes played in this outbreak given the strong epidemiological association," said CDC's Dr. Ian Williams. That is "very much part of the active investigation at the moment."

To date, the CDC has confirmed 1,294 people sickened from the outbreak. It doesn't appear to be over yet, with people falling ill as late as July 10.

Source: CBC.ca

Ontario KingFisher Cantaloupe Recall - Potential Salmonella

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to consume some KingFisher brand cantaloupes because they may be contaminated with salmonella.

The affected produce was distributed in cartons of six or nine cantaloupes and bears stickers with the following information:

KingFisher Brand

Produce of U.S.A.

UPC 0 33383 11600 6

4050

Fisher Ranch Corp., Blythe, CA, 92225

These cantaloupes were distributed in Ontario and sold between May 16 and June 2.
Consumers who have purchased whole cantaloupes or in-store products containing pieces of fresh cantaloupes and are not sure of the brand should inquire at the place of purchase to verify if the stores have received the affected product.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the affected cantaloupes.

Consumption of food contaminated with this bacteria may cause salmonellosis.

In young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, salmonellosis may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections.

In otherwise healthy people, salmonellosis may cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

The importer, Gambles Ontario Produce Inc. of Toronto, is voluntarily recalling the affected cantaloupes from the marketplace.

The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.

Source: Canadian Press

Sesame Seed Salmonella

f you're a big fan of sesame seeds, now might be the time to start trying other things.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public that certain sesame seeds carried by grocery stores across three provinces may be contaminated with Salmonella. The agency says people should avoid Quik Kook White Sesame Seeds, which are sold in eight-kilogram bags at various stores throughout Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. A similar warning was issued less than a month ago.

The food inspection agency is also advising people who have purchased sesame seeds on or after June 1st to contact the place they bought them and determine if their product is affected.

The concern is that food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled but consuming the bacteria can cause salmonellosis, an infection with potentially deadly results.

Especially at risk are kids, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

Bags containing the seeds bear the UPC code 0 58877 16585 8 and lot codes 71131, 71141 and 71481.
Source: CityNews.ca