Marie Callender joins the recall list

Marie Callender frozen meals are being recalled nationwide after they were linked to 29 salmonella illnesses in 14 different states.

The company is recalling all of the meals, which are labeled "Marie Callender's Cheesy Chicken and Rice White Meat Chicken and Broccoli over Rice Topped with Rich Cheddar Sauce," regardless of production date.

The product was distributed to retail outlets nationwide.

The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight hours to 72 hours of eating a contaminated product. It can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems.

When I visited their website I found a small headline banner at the top of the page:

Can you see it? Go ahead and click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see it. I'll wait. 

(taps my fingers impatiently)

Yes, I am tapping my fingers impatiently. Do you want to know why? It's not because I want YOU to hurry up. It's because I can't believe THEY don't think people getting ill from their food should take away from their beautifully designed web page. (Yes, there was a little sarcasm in that sentence.)

I believe that people getting ill from their food should be the main focus of that page. 

I believe that they should feel so bad that people have gotten sick that they make that obvious. That they apologize. That they tell you how to get help. ON THE FRONT PAGE. NOT on some tiny banner at the top of the page that takes you to their Media Relations page that IS NO HELP AT ALL.

Nope. No help at all. As a matter of fact, the recall is just a headline thrown in there with their other headlines including "ConAgra Foods Announces Details of Fiscal 2010 Fourth-Quarter Earnings Release and Conference Call" and "ConAgra Foods' Manwich(R) Brand Goes Country With CMA Music Festival Sponsorship". Hello?!? 

So when I clicked the link that would tell me all about what ConAgra is doing to help people sickened by their Marie Callender frozen meals I expected to find something saying how sorry they were THERE. Wrong again. This is what I got:

ConAgra Foods is announcing a precautionary recall of Marie Callender’s Cheesy Chicken & Rice single-serve frozen entrées. Consumers who have this product in their freezer should discard it or return it to their retailer for a refund.

The company has been working closely with state and federal authorities, and while there is no definitive link between the recalled product and any illness, the company is proactively recalling the product after being informed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of a possible association between the product and eight people in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with salmonellosis linked to Salmonella Chester. CDC interviews have identified individuals who reported eating this product in April and May, 2010. The last reported illness was reported on May 22. 

Individuals concerned about an illness should contact a physician. Consumption of food contaminated with Salmonella can cause salmonellosis, a common bacterial food borne illness. Consumers with questions about the recall should contact ConAgra Foods at 1-866-484-9610.

Do you notice the words precautionary recall and no definitive link and possible association? So that makes me think, ok, they were wrong. There's nothing to worry about. Mmmhmm.


How about the truth now? Wouldn't that be refreshing. The CDC says:

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture Laboratory reported to CDC that it has isolated Salmonella Chester from an unopened package of Marie Callender’s Cheesy Chicken & Rice single-serve frozen entrée collected from a case patient.  Subtyping of the Salmonella strain is under way.

It seems like ConAgra just doesn't want to admit when they have a problem. I think I'll be checking all my packages for their name from now on.

Ut Oh SpaghettiOs

Hey y'all. I haven't been posting because of my husband's illness. He's in the hospital again and I haven't been online much. I did want to take the time to tell you about the latest food recall though.

Campbell Soup® has recalled 15 million pounds of SpaghettiOs because of a cooker malfunction in one of their Texas plants that left the meatballs undercooked.  

The recalled products have "EST 4K," as well as a use-by date between June 2010 and December 2011 printed on the bottom of the can. The products were manufactured between December 2008 and June 2010 and distributed to retail establishments nationwide.

Sanzio said the company believes there are about 35,000 cases of SpaghettiOs subject to the recall on the market right now. He said USDA announced the recall of 15 million pounds because that is all of the product that has been manufactured since December 2008. Much of it has likely been consumed.

Consumers with questions about the recall can call Campbell's Hotline at (866) 495-3774.

Food Recalls: Salmonella

There is a LARGE recall of products right now that contain Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein because of salmonella contamination. The list contains Walmart's Great Value products, Dean's products, McCormick products, Publix products and Kroger products just to name a few. FoodSafety.gov says the following:

Salmonella Associated with Foods with Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein

• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) is a flavor enhancer used in processed foods. 

• HVP manufactured by Basic Food Flavors has been recalled because of Salmonella. See the consumer alert. 

• No illnesses have been reported. 

• HVP is used in a wide variety of food products. Only products made with HVP from Basic Food Flavors are being recalled. 

Please click here to view the list of food products that are being recalled. It's a very long list (17 pages) so look carefully to make sure you don't have any of the products!

Here we go again

Is there some problem with cleanliness? Do workers find it too difficult to follow basic food safety precautions? Is it hard to wash your hands? Is it too inconvenient? Do they even care? Do I sound upset? Well, I am.

I'm upset because 248,000 pounds of beef have been recalled because of E-Coli. TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS.

The beef was shipped mainly to restaurants in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Washington. The restaurants that are listed (even though the story says the "beef products sold primarily to" which means these are not ALL the restaurants it was sold to) are: Moe's, Carino's Italian Grill, and KRM.

Included in the recall:

• Boneless Beef Sirloin Steak
• Boneless Beef Tips
• Savory Sirloin Tips
• Bacon Wrapped Beef Fillet
• Beef Shoulder Marinated Tender Medallions
• 75% Boneless Beef Trimmings
• Beef Trimmings
• Beef Sirloin Philly Steak
• EGN Boneless Beef Sirloin Steak
• EGN Boneless Beef Sirloin Tri Tip Steak
• KRM Boneless Beef Sirloin Steak
• Carino's Boneless Beef Outside Skirt Steak
• Carino's Boneless Beef Outside Skirt Steak Pieces
• Moe's Beef Steak

The Owasso Oklahoma company, National Steak and Poultry, voluntarily recalled the meat and said the "recalled products are in packages bearing a label with the establishment number "EST. 6010T" inside the USDA mark of inspection and packaging dates of "10/12/2009," "10/13/2009," "10/14/2009," or "10/21/2009." The company said the products were shipped to restaurants nationwide."

They say this is the first recall their company has ever had in it's 30 year history. While that's a pretty good track record, one time is enough for me. Six states, countless restaurants. And remember, E-Coli is spread through fecal contamination. FECAL CONTAMINATION. Yep. That's enough for me.

Cookie dough may taste great but be warned: It's making people sick

I'm sad to tell you the newest food recall involves one of my very favorite foods: Nestle Toll House Cookies.

Friday Nestle recalled 300,000 cases of cookie dough including refrigerated cookie bar dough, cookie dough tub, cookie dough tubes, limited edition cookie dough items, seasonal cookie dough and Ultimates cookie bar dough. It includes chocolate chip dough, gingerbread, sugar and peanut butter dough and other varieties. The recall occurred after 66 reports of E-coli were reported in 28 states. All the infected people consumed raw cookie dough.

According to the story I read, "The FDA advised consumers to throw away any Nestle Toll House cookie dough products in their homes and asked retailers, restaurateurs and other foodservice operations not to sell or serve any of the products. "This has been a very quickly moving situation," Nestle spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn said, adding the company took action within 24 hours of learning of the problem. O'Hearn said the company will "cooperate fully" with the FDA's investigation."

According to the Nestle website, "Consumers who have purchased these products should not consume them. Instead, we are asking that consumers return these products to their local grocer for a full refund. We invite consumers with questions to contact Nestlé Consumer Services at 1-800-559-5025 and visit our web site at www.verybestbaking.com.

The products involved in the voluntary recall include all varieties of Nestlé TOLL HOUSE refrigerated Cookie Bar Dough, Cookie Dough Tub; Cookie Dough Tube; Limited Edition Cookie Dough items; Seasonal Cookie Dough and Ultimates Cookie Bar Dough. Variety information is included in the list below."

Description Consumer

Unit Code (UPC)
Nestle Toll House Cookie &
Brownie Dough
COOKIE & BROWNIE DOUGH BAR
Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0
50000 62231 3
Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000 11308 8
Chocolate Chunk
bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62235 1
Walnut Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62233 7
Jumbo Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62237 5
Oatmeal Raisin bar
16.5oz 0 50000 06219 5
Sugar Cookies bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62244 3
Sugar
Cookies bar 16.5oz 0 5000012178 6
Mini Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000
62242 9
Mini Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 5000012188 5
Mini Brownie Bites
bar 16oz 0 50000 62227 6
Fudgy Brownie With Peanut Butter Filling 19oz 0
50000 00820 9

COOKIE DOUGH TUB
Chocolate Chip tub 40oz 0 50000 62246
7
Chocolate Chip tub 80oz (5 lb) 0 50000 00934 3
Sugar tub 40oz. 0 50000
62253 5
Gingerbread tub 40oz 0 50000 44060 3
Peanut Butter tub 40oz 0
50000 44062 7

TUBE (CHUB) DOUGH
Chocolate Chip tube 16.5oz 0 50000
62239 9
Chocolate Chip tube 32oz 0 50000 00400 3

ULTIMATES COOKIE
BAR DOUGH
Ultimates Peanut Butter Cups, Chips & Chocolate Chunks bar
16oz 0 50000 00922 0
Ultimates White Chip Macadamia Nut bar 16oz 0 50000
00923 7
Ultimates Chocolate Chip & Chunks with Pecans bar 16oz 0 50000
00925 1
Ultimates Chocolate Chip Lovers 16oz 0 50000 00926 8
Ultimates
Turtles bar 16oz 0 50000 00928 2
Ultimates Peanut Butter Lovers bar 16oz 0
50000 00507 9
Ultimates Chocolate Chip with Caramel Filling bar 16oz 0 50000
44066 5
Ultimates Chocolate Chip with Chocolate Filling bar 16oz 0 50000
44069 6

SEASONAL COOKIE & BROWNIE DOUGH
Valentine Hearts Sugar
Cookie Shapes 15.5oz 0 50000 12009 3
Valentine Swirled Chocolate Chip bar
16oz 0 50000 00931 2
Fudgy Brownies With Raspberry Filling 19oz 0 50000
20090 0
Easter Eggs Sugar Cookie Shapes 15.5oz 0 50000 52009 1
Easter
Swirled Chocolate Chip bar 16oz 0 50000 00932 9
Easter Swirled Mini Brownie
Bites bar 18 oz 0 50000 20093 1
Red, White & Blue Swirled Choc Chip bar
16oz 0 50000 00937 4
Halloween Pumpkin Pals Sugar Cookies 13.5oz 0 50000
06217 1
Halloween Swirled Chocolate Chip bar 16oz 0 50000 00929 9
Halloween Swirled Fudgy Brownies bar 18oz 0 50000 00088 3
Christmas
Shapes Sugar Cookies 15.5oz 0 50000 00505 5
Christmas Swirled Chocolate Chip
bar 16oz 0 50000 00930 5
Christmas Swirled Fudgy Brownies bar 18oz 0 50000
00089 0
Limited Edition Mint Swirled Chocolate Chip 16oz 0 50000 00827 8

Discontinued Varieties
Valentine Hearts Sugar Cookies 13.5oz 0 50000
44056 6
Easter Brownie Bar 18oz 0 50000 00518 5
Easter Bunnies Sugar
Cookies 13.5oz 0 50000 44058 0
Halloween Sugar Shapes 15.5oz 0 50000 00829 2
Christmas Sugar Cookie Tube 16oz 0 50000 00448 5
Oatmeal Cranberry
Cookie Tub 48 oz. 0 50000 62229 0

So I guess my mother was right; I shouldn't eat raw cookie dough. None of us should (I know it's terribly hard NOT to eat it....it's so delicious). The website also said not to cook the dough and eat it believing you will then be safe from the E-coli. While it's true cooking does destroy the bacteria, anything that the dough has come in contact with (your hands, the counter, a knife) will have the bacteria on it and you can still become ill. My advice would be to just return it to the store and get your money back. I know that's what I would do.

By the way, haven't I mentioned how scared I am becoming of food? I don't mean ALL food but I mean it when I say one of these days I'll grow or raise everything I eat. It's just too scary to trust that all the food I buy is safe. Cookie dough. Imagine that.

Pistachio newest nut to avoid

I don't know about you but I haven't had a peanut in a while now. I just can't bring myself to do it. I can't get past the idea of dying because I had a snack.

In case you've somehow missed it, peanuts have been on the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recall list after a salmonella outbreak in a PCA (Peanut Corp. of America) plant out of Georgia. The outbreak is still an issue and products are still being added to the list (you can find an up-to-date list at the bottom of this page). More than 690 people in 46 states have gotten sick and almost 3,900 products have been recalled.

Now there is a new nut to concern yourself with, the pistachio.

Tuesday Kraft Foods Inc. notified the FDA that it had detected salmonella through routine product testing in roasted pistachios . Kraft and the Georgia Nut Co. recalled their Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix because of those test results.

Friday Kroger Co. (the grocery store chain) recalled bagged pistachios from California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., the nation's second-largest pistachio processor. They voluntarily recalled more than 2 million pounds of its roasted nuts shipped since last fall. Those nuts were sold in 31 states.

A spokesman for the company, Fabia D'Arienzo, said "It will be safe to assume based on the volume that this will be an ingredient in a lot of different products, and that may possibly include things like ice cream and cake mixes. The firm is already turning around trucks in transit to bring those back to the facility."

Salmonella is the most common cause of food-borne illness. It is a bacteria that causes diarrhea, fever and cramping. While most people recover it can be life threatening for children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

FDA adds new products to recall list

The list is still growing for peanut products that contain salmonella. Dog products from American Health Kennels Inc., candy from Gurley's Foods Inc., and PB & Whey Protein Bites were added yesterday. You can click here for the details on those products I just mentioned and I have added the FDA search widget to the top of my sidebar for easy access. New products are still being added to the list so please, please, please check it often and consider carefully if anything you are using could possibly contain peanuts or peanut butter. I realized this morning (well after the fact) that I had eaten Valentine's Day candy that contained nuts. I hope they weren't any of THOSE nuts. Ugh. Will this ever end?

Who’s in charge here?

Since the beginning of the present salmonella outbreak, I’ve been bringing you news on it. I’ve provided you with links to information on the outbreak. I’ve provided you with lists of recalled products. I’ve done this for two reasons. One, it’s important. And two, I’m mad.

My anger has tripled this morning. Maybe even quadrupled. I’m pretty mad. If you were someone that saw me in person, you would probably turn around and move away from me as fast as possible once you saw the look on my face. I’m truly that angry today.

Reading my morning news stories I came across yet another story on the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA). Imagine that. The story said that federal health officials have now officially opened a criminal investigation of the plant. Yesterday. Well, it’s about time.

I’m not just mad at the PCA. I’m also mad at the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). It has now been revealed that the FDA hasn’t been to the Blakely Georgia plant since 2001. Yes, I am aware that it’s presently 2009. Maybe now you see what my anger is based on.

To make matters worse, the FDA did not go into the plant because of the salmonella. They went because a shipment of peanuts that originated at the PCA plant were stopped and refused at the Canadian border because it contained metal shavings. That’s when they thought they might need to go into the plant. Don’t worry that it’s been 8 years since any federal inspectors were in the plant. The PCA had their own inspectors, they should be fine. No need to worry about them. Yeah, right.

Then when the FDA finally did go into the plant they didn’t check for anything except metal. No check for salmonella. Why would they worry about that? It’s not like there was JUST ANOTHER CASE OF PEANUT BUTTER SALMONELLA POISONING A COUPLE YEARS AGO. That doesn’t matter.

My main problem is why did the FDA allow a company that sold food products for the general public’s consumption to use their own inspectors? Why didn’t they insist on making regular inspections? I worked in restaurants for 25 years and I can’t tell you how many health inspectors I saw. They popped in unannounced and checked everything under the roof at least once every month. All those individual restaurants were feeding was whatever town I happened to be living in at the time. We weren’t shipping food out all over the country. But we had to meet certain standards and if we didn’t we were closed immediately and not allowed to reopen until the problem was fixed. How was this plant that now has over 430 products on the recall list allowed to continue producing those products and worse yet, shipping them out for us to eat? For us to feed to our children.

According to PCA company documents the original lab they hired to test their products found at least 12 cases of salmonella in the plant. PCA then turned around and hired another company that tested the products and found no salmonella so they shipped the products out. I’m sorry but that’s just crap. If the first test was positive, in my mind there is no need for a second test. And by using a different company to ensure a different result makes me think they were acting in a criminal manner.

In a PCA media statement they said “It is because of our commitment to our customers and consumers that PCA has taken extraordinary measures to identify and recall all products that have been identified as presenting a potential risk.”

I think the only thing PCA is committed to is making money. They haven’t taken any extraordinary measures. The only reason they are doing anything now is because people have died. They blatantly sent out products that they had been told were a danger to people. They chose to ignore basic food handling procedures. They didn’t even bother to clean their plant. When FDA inspectors recently visited the plant they found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and “numerous other sanitation problems.” Commitment to our customers. What a joke.

My hope is PCA will now go out of business. I want them to never again produce anything for us to eat. I also hope the people that worked at that plant are thoroughly educated in food safety and any of them that made the decisions as to whether or not sell those contaminated products should receive jail time. What they did was criminal; they should be treated as such.

Not my cookies too?!?

I wrote about a week ago about the peanut butter salmonella outbreak that is causing illness all over the country. That has now been expanded to include all peanut products. Officials have tracked the salmonella back to a Georgia plant that provides peanuts to 85 food companies including Kellogg.

Keebler cookies have been pulled from shelves as a precaution and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is no longer just a bulk peanut butter issue. They are now looking at all products that contain peanuts and peanut paste including baked goods containing peanuts.

The Blakely Georgia plant is owned by Peanut Corp. of America and provides peanuts to 85 different companies. Peanut Corp. has recalled 21 lots of peanut butter that they believe to be the culprit but some companies, such as Kellogg’s, have pulled all their products that contain peanuts from store shelves. Kellogg also pulled their Austin peanut butter sandwich crackers in addition to the Keebler cookies.

Officially there have been over 450 cases of salmonella illness and six deaths from this outbreak. An elderly North Carolina man died yesterday from the same strain of salmonella that has been found in the offending foods.

Four people have died in Minnesota and Virginia (two in each state) and one person has died in Idaho. Four of those five people were elderly. Food borne illnesses are generally worse in the elderly, young, pregnant and people who have reduced immune systems.

I personally am glad I haven’t had anything with peanuts in it for a while now. At the beginning of the outbreak, it was just coincidental that I hadn’t eaten peanut products but now that it’s been in the news, I’ve purposely avoided them. I suffer from Graves Disease which is an autoimmune disease. I just can’t take that chance.

While I don’t expect people to cut all peanut products out of their lives, I do think at this time it would be prudent to check all your packages for peanut products and specifically for who produced those peanuts and if it was the Peanut Corp. of America. 85 companies produce a lot of products. And many products either contain peanuts or were cooked in peanut oil and people are unaware of it unless they have a peanut allergy.

I have been known to enjoy a Keebler cookie on occasion however and knowing that Kellogg was worried enough to pull them from the shelves has me scared. The only upside that I can see from this outbreak is the companies will be more aware of the situation and hopefully do more to test their products BEFORE they are sent out to the public.

Please wash your hands

When I was 15 I got my first real job. I’d had babysitting jobs before that. And animal sitting jobs. Just never a job that someone wrote my name on a check. That job was at McDonald’s. It was a good first job. The people were nice and I enjoyed myself.

That’s where my food service career began. I spent the next twenty five years cooking in one restaurant or another. Most of the time I enjoyed it. There were occassions that I just thought I’d rather shovel manure than cook in another restaurant, but I always ended up back in the business. It’s what I do.

At the end of my career (I haven’t worked in almost a year now) I pretty much knew everything I needed to know about food handling and food safety. I spent the last almost decade working for the United States Beef Corporation also known as Arby’s. I was there for nine years.

Because I was in management, I was sent to ‘school’ often. I’d drive to Tulsa and attend classes given by a very entertaining man named Andrew. He was awesome. He made learning fun.

Once every two years I attended ServSafe classes. ServSafe classes are sponsored by the National Restaurant Association and teach the fundamentals of food safety. It’s an eight hour class with a no-time-limit test afterwards. If you passed the test you were certified and that was a plus to the health department. All the managers that worked for our company were required to take and pass the ServSafe class. If you didn’t pass it you had to come back. I never had that problem. As a matter of fact I was always the first person done and never scored lower than a 96. The last time I took it I scored a 99 and was done in a stunning 14 minutes. Andrew said it was a record.

The reason I’m telling you these things is because there is a food borne illness outbreak happening right now. I wasn’t aware of it until, like normal, I was reading the mornings headlines. I was scanning the page and the word salmonella jumped out at me. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta are investigating a salmonella outbreak that has caused illness in almost 400 people in 42 states.

Salmonella is a nasty food borne illness. It causes abdominal cramps, headaches, nausea, fever, diarrhea and sometimes vomiting. It can cause severe dehydration in infants and the elderly. The incubation period is 6 - 48 hours after you’ve been exposed. That means it can be two days after you eat the contaminated food before you show signs of illness.

The source of this disease can be from several places, including domestic and wild animals and humans. In people it’s source is the intestinal tract. That means someone didn’t wash their hands after using the restroom. Yuck. Please wash your hands…

Most people automatically think of chicken when they think of salmonella, and while it’s true chicken is a common source, there are other foods that are culprits. They include fish, shrimp, tofu, melons, tomatoes, raw sprouts and egg products like custard and pastry creams.

Those foods are by no means the only foods to be careful with. Salmonella can be present in many meats and different forms of produce. The best policy is to always follow safe food handling practices. The CDC does not know how this particular outbreak is spreading yet. Please don't forget about the tomatoes or the peanut butter. The peanut butter salmonella outbreak was in 2007 and was in a major name brand, Peter Pan, as well as the Walmart equal to that name brand.

Avoiding cross contamination, keeping foods at their proper temperatures and practicing good personal hygiene are the best ways to prevent a food borne illness in your house.

Don’t use the same knife on meat that you used on produce. Make sure you keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold and that you cook meats to at least 165 degrees for a minimum of fifteen seconds (this means when you insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the meat, the temperature stays steady on 165 degrees for 15 seconds). Don’t allow foods to remain at room temperature for more than two hours. If it does, throw it away. The loss of the food is much better than the illness you’ll have to suffer through if you decide to take that risk.

And wash your hands often! Hand washing is the single most important factor in safe food handling. Most people either don’t wash their hands at all or they don’t wash them properly. Just a quick splash under the water will NOT remove the offending bacteria. You don’t have to use antibacterial soap. To me that’s just a waste of money. Regular soap can do exactly the same thing as antibacterial soap if you wash properly.

Make sure you use hot water and that you scrub all the surface of your hands including under your fingernails. Fingernails are a great holder of bacteria. Another thing most people don’t think about is their jewelry. Rings with a lot of tiny places can hold and transfer bacteria too.

And last but not least, make sure you wash for the proper amount of time. A good trick to help you accomplish this is to sing happy birthday while you’re washing. Sing it all the way through and you’ll have spent a good two minutes washing. Perfect!

I hope these things I’ve learned help people to stay healthy in their cooking habits. They are easy and I promise after doing them for awhile you don’t even think about it anymore.

Click here to read the story about the CDC and the latest salmonella outbreak