A salmonella scare has prompted a recall of just under 55,000 lbs. of “raw frozen turkey meat” sold under the popular brand name Jennie-O after the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service was notified of a patient infected by the dangerous bacteria in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin patient was the first to ping FSIS radar, but since then, individuals infected with Salmonella Hadar linked to Jennie-O turkey products were located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Washington.

The recall affects 4-lb. boxes of Jennie-O Turkey Store “All Natural Turkey Burgers With Seasonings, Lean White Meat.” Packages contain 12 individually-wrapped, 1/3-lb. turkey burgers, and were boxed on November 23rd, 2010. The affected Jennie-O product was shipped nationwide, and is marked by a lot codes of “32710″ through “32780″ (located above the tear strip) with a use-by date of “DEC 23 2011.” The front of each box has a USDA mark of inspection with an establishment number of  ”P-7760″ located inside the seal.

Hormel Foods has posted an official recall notice on their website, with information about safe food handling to avoid being salmonella infection. Also listed are symptoms of salmonella infection and hotline information for consumers with recall-related questions.

Jennie-O recalls 55K pounds of turkey products after salmonella outbreak is a post from: The Inquisitr

For the second time in as many years, a massive recall of a popular brand of peanut butter is underway due to fears of salmonella contamination.

The recall only affects two reduced-fat varieties of the nationally distributed product. Affected varieties, Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread and Skippy Reduced Fat Super Chunk Peanut Butter Spread, are sold in a 16.3 oz plastic jar and bear the UPC codes 048001006812 and 048001006782. No illnesses have been reported to date associated with the recall of Skippy Peanut Butter.

Peanut butter involved in the recall was sold in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, and product has a “best-if-used-by-date” coded as MAY1612LR1, MAY1712LR1, MAY1812LR1, MAY1912LR1, MAY2012LR1 and MAY2112LR1.

The possible contamination was revealed during routine quality testing at Unilever. Salmonella poses a far greater health threat to the very young, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals, and presents with fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and occasionally, a larger systemic infection.

[FDA]

Salmonella fears prompt Skippy Peanut Butter recall in 16 states is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you had a run in with iffy leftovers or methodically reviewed everything you’ve ever eaten while clutched in a reluctant, yakking embrace with a toilet bowl, about 17% of Americans this year could commiserate with your bout of food-borne illness.

Christopher Braden, MD, The Center for Disease Control’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases acting director commented on the wide impact of what Americans call “food poisoning”:

“These illnesses are associated with billions in health care costs and also have a substantial human cost in severe illnesses and in some cases, long-term health effects that linger after the initial illness subsides. We need to do more to lower the impact of these diseases in the United States.”

According to recently released data, E. coli related illness and Listeriosis sickened fewer Americans, but Salmonella infection rates have not slowed at all despite better food handling information and knowledge. In 1999, it was estimated that 1 in 4 Americans became ill from food-borne pathogens- in the more recent data it was revealed that more than a hundred thousand were hospitalized, and 3,000 people died each year from food-borne disease.

Craig W. Hedberg, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, commented on the improvement in outcomes and how the trend could continue:

“While rates of campylobacter, E. coli, and listeria have notably declined, salmonella has no. The biology of salmonella is complex, and there are many sources and transmission routes that we don’t understand well. I think that understanding and preventing salmonella should be the major focus of food safety activities for the next few years.”

The most current data is presumed to be more accurate than the 1999 data due to better collecting and reporting procedures.

1 in 6 Americans sickened by food-borne illness each year is a post from: The Inquisitr

Cal-Maine, the nation’s largest distributor of eggs, has recalled hundreds of thousands of eggs after evidence of salmonella was found at an Ohio farm during a FDA inspection.

The recall is the second of its kind this year, the first of which is believed to have sickened 1,600 people due to eggs contaminated with Salmonella. CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell said that for every reported case of the foodborne illness, more than 30 unreported cases of the infection may have occurred. Salmonella poses a heightened risk to elderly people, the very young and people who have a compromised immune system. No cases of the illness have yet been linked to the latest outbreak.

Marketwatch posted some information on the identifying details of eggs involved in the recall:

Plant numbers and Julian dates can be found printed on the individual cartons. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example P1457-282… Consumers who believe they may have purchased potentially affected shell eggs should not eat them but should return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. Questions and concerns may also be directed to Cal-Maine’s corporate office at 1-866-276-6299 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. CST.

The farm involved in the most recent recall has been financially backed in the past by the man who owned the farms involved in the recall earlier this year.

Largest egg distributor in US recalls 288K eggs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa has expanded their egg recall to encompass 380 million eggs, up from the recall count yesterday of 228 million of the affected eggs.

The outbreak began nearly three months ago:

The salmonella outbreak began in May, when several states began seeing an increase in the number of cases of a common type of bacterial illness known as Salmonella Enteritidis, said Dr. Christopher R. Braden, acting director of food-borne diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The numbers continued to grow, and in June and July, a database used to track disease nationwide found that the number of cases had risen from a historical average of about 50 a week to about 200.

Public health officials in Michigan, Colorado and California were able to determine that many of the people who’d fallen ill had recently consumed eggs, and further investigating lead them back to Wright County Egg. Hundreds of people in several states are thought to have fallen ill since the start of this outbreak, but so far, no deaths have been linked to the strain. Officials say that only about one out of every 30 cases of salmonella is reported, so the number of people who have fallen ill due to tainted eggs may be far higher.

[NYT]

Egg recall up to 380m, ‘hundreds’ sickened is a post from: The Inquisitr

Raw cookie dough consumers throughout the US are in a bit of a panic this week as a recall of 228m eggs is underway.

The CDC and FDA are in the midst of a “multi-state investigation” regarding the recall as the hundreds of millions of eggs sold under 13 brands in several states has caused widespread concern amongst consumers. At least 266 Californians have fallen ill from the salmonella contamination, and investigators have noticed a four-fold increase in cases of the food-borne illness since June.

Affected eggs were sold under the following brand names:

Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. The eggs are packed in cartons of various sizes, including 6-egg cartons, dozen-egg cartons and 18-egg cartons.

Consumers can identify possibly contaminated eggs by checking the packaging.

They feature Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946. Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The date follows the plant number. For example: P-1946 223.

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning set in between 12 and 72 hours of consuming affected products, and can last up to a week. The illness can be serious, especially in immunocompromised individuals. Consumers are advised to not consume the eggs and to return them to stores.

228m Eggs being recalled, salmonella cited is a post from: The Inquisitr