Listeria Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark Law Firm : Listeria Blog

“Got Milk?” Better check to see if it is produced by Whittier Farms and is distributed to customers in the greater Worcester/Shrewsbury area. Brand names produced at Whittier Dairy include Whittier, Schultz, Balance Rock, Spring Brook and Maple. Consumers were warned by the Health Department not to drink any milk products from Whittier Farms in Shrewsbury after two people died from listeria bacteria contamination, the Department of Public Health announced. Four cases of listeriosis infection have been identified by DPH. The cases involved three elderly residents and a pregnant woman from Worcester County.

According to the Whittier Farms website, the farm:

…has taken a unique approach to farming as we milk the cow, haul the raw milk to our processing plant in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts and then sell the processed milk at our milk store and at our processing plant. The whole process from cow to cup is two days, which means farm fresh milk to our satisfied and loyal customers.   We have revived the old method of bottling milk in glass bottles. The glass bottles keep the milk colder, which means the milk stays fresher, giving the milk a sweet and smooth taste. Our milk is also bottled in plastic and cardboard for those who prefer this convenience.

An udder catastrophe.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

With all the E. coli outbreaks, Listeria has taken the back seat during 2007. The year's recall list --a long one-- maintained by the Food Safety & Inspection Service started with 290 pounds of listeria contaminated hog head cheese. That was on Jan. 3, 2007. The responsible party was Pap's Louisiana Cuisine.

Two days later, Denver's Gold Star Sausage Company recalled 15,514 pounds of sausage franks due to listeria. There would be seven more listeria recalls by year's end, the largest being a 2.8 million pound recall of chicken breast strips by West Columbia, SC-based Carolina Culinard Foods.

Other listeria contaminated products included ready-to-eat turkey, semi boneless ham steaks, frozen sausage rolls, and a chicken and pastry product. All totaled, listeria-laced recalled products came to just a tad under 3 million pounds.

The only listeria recall remaining "active" at year end was Meridian, TX-based Double B Foods Inc., which sought return of 98,000 pounds of its frozen sausage rolls on Nov. 15.

So, it was not a big year for listeria recalls, but neither was it an insignificant one. Especially if you were a pregnant North Carolina woman hopeing for a baby instead of a still-born.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A California company is recalling its pasta salad with chicken because it may be contaminated.

Trader Joe's brand Spicy Thai Style Pasta Salad with chicken breast is the name brand for Garden Leaf Food's product.

Each label bears the establishment number P-21252 inside the USDA mark of inspection and has a "sell-by" date of Jan. 25.

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea, as well as miscarriage and stillbirth. It can be fatal in those with weakened immune systems.

Keep reading here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Recall Release CLASS I RECALL
FSIS-RC-006-2007 HEALTH RISK: HIGH

Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Amanda Eamich

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2007 - Garden Leaf Foods, a Gardena, Calif., firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 1,591 pounds of pasta salad with chicken that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

The following product is subject to recall: [View Label]

* 12-ounce plastic containers of "TRADER JOE'S, Serves 2, Spicy THAI STYLE PASTA SALAD, with chicken breast." Each label bears the establishment number "P-21252" inside the USDA mark of inspection. Each package bears a "Sell-by" date of "1-25-07."

Keep reading here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

MARION - The Ohio State University is seeking Marion County families to help with a food safety study that researchers hope will lead to revisions of the nation's food safety guidelines.

Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center is studying the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, which causes the food-borne illness listeriosis. It is most commonly associated with pre-packaged, ready-to-eat foods such as deli meats, salad and hot dogs.

While illnesses are rare, researchers said it is fatal for about a quarter of the people who become ill. Pregnant women, infants, senior citizens and people with compromised immune systems are the most vulnerable.
"Those who are healthy can usually fight it off," said Marion General Hospital infection control coordinator Kathy Ridge.

Lead researcher Lydia Medeiros, associate professor of human nutrition in the College of Education and Human Ecology, said that the university started

the study about a year ago but needs more families to get the kind of data it needs. Researchers are looking for both non-farm families who live in rural areas and families who live on farms with dairy or beef cattle, sheep or goats.

Keep reading here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For information contact: January 5, 2007 Arty Schronce, Yao Seidu or Jackie Sosby (404) 656-3689 Possible Listeria contamination Tommy Irvin Alerts Georgians About Recalled Frankfurters

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin is alerting Georgians that some frankfurters sold in the state may possibly be contaminated with a species of bacteria that can potentially cause illness.

Gold Star Sausage Co., Inc, a Denver, Colo., firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 15,514 pounds of its products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The following products are subject to recall:

Read list here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The head cheese products were produced on December 27, 2006, and were distributed to retail establishments in Southeast Louisiana.

The problem was discovered through the FSIS routine microbiological testing. FSIS has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of this product.

Read the whole article here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Cochise County health officials are warning residents about risks associated with eating cheese made from milk that has not been pasteurized.

Queso fresco and other Mexican-style soft cheeses made from unpasteurized milk can contain listeria bacteria, the source of a dangerous and sometimes fatal food borne infection called listeriosis. The county Health Department is launching an informational campaign to educate people about the dangers of listeriosis, along with steps that address prevention.

While anyone who eats cheese made from unpasteurized milk can be affected by listeriosis, health officials are particularly concerned about high-risk groups, including pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, pregnant women are 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to contract listeriosis.

Keep reading

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Imagine going to your doctor with joint pain and leaving with a prescription for ginger.

Before the advent of synthetic drugs, that might have happened. Herbs and spices have a long history as folk medicine, and not without merit.

Today, researchers are working to quantify their health benefits.

"We don't have enough evidence to say herbs and spices are 100-percent disease-preventing, but several have positive outlooks," says Milton Stokes, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Oregano: The strongest health benefit for oregano, shown at left, is that it's been linked to food preservation. In 2003, researchers found that applying a concentrated oregano extract to prepared meats may destroy Listeria bacteria. "The same chemical constituents that give herbs and spices their pungency are also powerful bacterial inhibitors," says Catherine Donnelly, Ph.D., professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Vermont. "Oregano is one of the best bacteria killers." Its phenols -- a type of antioxidant -- destroy the cell membranes of bacteria.

More Spices

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

PROVIDENCE – Customers are advised to discard any food items prepared at Compare Foods, 863 Broad St., Providence, the R.I. Health Department said in a warning late Friday.

Affected by the warning are prepared foods including sandwiches, deli sliced meats and cheeses, and deli salads, such as tuna, macaroni, seafood, turkey, ham and cheese or potato salad, or cole slaw. Any such foods "should be discarded, because there is the potential that they may be contaiminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the Health Department said.

Multiple samples collected from the market, during an investigation of an illness, tested positive for the bacteria, the department said.

keep reading here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has said that seven cases of self-reported illnesses have been linked to the contamination of HoneyBaked Foods ham and turkey products, which are with Listeria monocytogenes.

Read more here. (subscription)

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Mexico’s queso fresco can cause serious disease

Crumbly, soft queso fresco — a type of homemade, fresh white cheese — is a signature favorite in Mexico that is now available in many U.S. supermarkets.

However, consuming queso fresco imported from Mexico could make you gravely ill, officials warn. And outbreaks of severe illness are continuing to occur on both sides of the border.

"It’s a problem that’s been going on for decades," said Dr. Stephen Waterman, a California-based medical epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Keep reading here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

For the second time this month, a Norfolk food packer has voluntarily recalled its mixed fruit product.

The owner of Krisp-Pak tells Your NewsChannel 3 that one sample of the mixed fruit tested positive for listeria. Of the 49 samples sent out for testing, only one came back positive Monday. The samples were taken from Krisp-Pak on November 14th.

Local grocery stores have been notified. 40 Farm Fresh stores across Hampton Roads and two Super K-Marts, one on Military Highway and another on Holland Road, have pulled the mixed fruit from their shelves.

So far, there have been NO reports of anyone being sick. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, listeria is a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.

keep reading here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Nov 24, 2006 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Ohio-based company is recalling 46,941 pounds of turkey and ham products that officials fear could cause listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday.

HoneyBaked Foods Inc. is voluntarily recalling the meat, which includes cooked, glazed and sliced ham and turkey, USDA said in a statement.

The meat, which was produced between September 5 and November 13, may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, which can bring about high fever, headaches, neck stiffness and nausea, USDA said.

Keep reading here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

After HoneyBaked Foods Inc. of Toledo issued a voluntary recall for certain hams and sliced and glazed turkey breasts on Wednesday, officials decided to open their store on Merger Drive for part of yesterday’s Thanksgiving Day holiday.

“We didn’t want people driving up and saying, ‘They’re not here,’” Craig Kurz, an officer and shareholder of the company, said yesterday.

The business also will be open today during regular business hours.

Mr. Kurz said a handful of people stopped by the Merger Drive store in Springfield Township yesterday.

Keep reading here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The F.D.A. came in and swabbed down Krisp-Pak's packaging plant on Southampton Boulevard on Thursday, one day after a sample tested positive for a potentially dangerous bacteria.

The company is throwing out 400 pounds of fruit that may be contaminated with a bacteria called Listeria.

The F.D.A. swabbed the facility from top to bottom and watched how Krisp-Pak workers clean and cut food.

Every time you cut a piece of fruit, you open it up to infection. If you slice into an apple, the bacteria can go from your knife to inside the flesh. That can make people stick. The owner of Krisp-Pak does not believe that' s what s happened in this case.

For the second time in two months, Paul Battaglia is trashing his produce and profit. F.D.A. Workers watched him dump about four carts full of fresh fruit.

Read more here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

BOSTON --Boston Salads and Provisions Co. Inc. is recalling containers of cole slaw salad with sell-by dates of Nov. 9 and Nov. 11 because they could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a microorganism that can cause serious or fatal infections.

Children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are most susceptible to the infections. It can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Healthy adults can experience symptoms including fevers, severe headaches, nausea and diarrhea.

The cole slaw was sold in 5-, 10- and 30-pound bulk containers and 1-pound retail containers. The salad was sold in supermarkets, delicatessens and convenience stores under the following brand names: Boston Salads & Provisions Co., Inc., Dietz and Watson Inc., Hummel Brothers Inc.

Read more here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A Norfolk-based fruit distributor has recalled packages of fresh cut fruit from supermarkets and military commissaries in Virginia and North Carolina after one package tested positive for a potentially fatal bacteria.

Krisp-Pak Company Inc. ordered the recall Tuesday after the food inspection section of the U.S. Army Veterinary Services told the company of the test result, owner Paul Battaglia said.

One package was found to have listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria that can cause fatal infections in children, the elderly or people with weak immune systems, Krisp-Pak said in a statement.

Listeria infection could cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, headache and nausea in healthy people, the statement said. It also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Read more here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

BELLVILLE — A warning about ready-to-eat and smoked meat products at the Bellville Meat Market has been withdrawn, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Tuesday.

Last week a warning was issued after the health department found listeria monocytogenes as part of a routine inspection. Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause listeriosis. The warning was withdrawn after recent lab tests of samples from the market were negative for listeria, the health department said. Bellville is about 60 miles northwest of Houston, in Austin County.

From www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4301645.html

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Here is some good information on Listeria from The Cooking Blog

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

BELLVILLE — Customers were being warned by the state health department on Wednesday not to consume any ready-to-eat or smoked meat products purchased from the Bellville Meat Market on or after Oct. 6. The warning comes after a product tested positive for listeria monocytogenes. The bacterium can cause listeriosis, with symptoms including fever, muscle aches and sometimes diarrhea or nausea. The incubation period is usually from 12 hours to three weeks but can be longer.

From http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4288156.html

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Techniques such as high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, radio-frequency electric fields, ultraviolet light, and irradiation have been shown to be faster and less disruptive to quality than traditional thermal processing techniques, say researchers.

Food safety concerns and regulation have driven the food industry to explore different methods of killing harmful pathogens while maintaining quality. Heat sterilisation techniques are common. However heat can also lower quality.

Researchers at the US agriculture department are currently investigating several alternative non-thermal processing technologies, including high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, radio-frequency electric fields, ultraviolet light, and irradiation.

Read more here

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A dose of bacteriophages can help ready-to-eat meat producing companies meet food safety standards for Listeria, according to a university study.

They have the potential to be the next big technological advance in anti-bacterial agents processors can use in ensuring their products do not leave the plant loaded with dangerous pathogens like Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli

Keep reading

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Scientists in Wyndmoor, Pa., are improving methods to detect foodborne pathogens

"Listeriosis, the illness caused by L. monocytogenes infection, affects around 2,500 people in the United States every year, and kills about 500. Newborns, seniors, pregnant women and individuals with compromised or weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible.

Most methods for detecting harmful foodborne bacteria rely on antibodies, which are proteins used by the immune system to fight infections and foreign bodies. Because these antibodies target very specific infections, researchers can use them to identify and locate specific pathogens."

More after the jump.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link