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In the last 3 days, six more recalls due to Listeria monocytogenes occurred. All are due to finding Listeria in the environment of suppliers. June 16, Chic-a-Peas LLC voluntarily recalled Chic-a-Peas Baked Crunchy Chickpeas 2 oz. packages because the product has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. This recall has been initiated because one of their manufacturing companies notified them that Listeria monocytogenes was found in the production environment June 16, NOW Health Group, Inc. (NOW), of Bloomingdale, Illinois, expanded the voluntary recall of a number of products. Evidence of facility contamination was noted after a follow-up FDA inspection of the Nutty Infusions supplier. The...

The FDA FSMA rule on Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals is final, and the first compliance date begins on May 30, 2017. This rule imposes far reaching changes on food importers and requires review of the food safety practices of foreign suppliers and their compliance history.  Foreign suppliers must be approved in advance and must have a written program before they can be a supplier in the US.  The rule also requires new information to be submitted for customs entries: the FSVP importer must now be declared for each importation of FDA-regulated food (including...

The Journal of Dairy Sciences reports that a team of researchers from China (Zhao et al. J. Dairy Sci. 100:3480–3496  May 2107) developed a new method for the detection of Salmonella in infant powdered milk. The developed method is claimed to be rapid, specific, and sensitive. It is is based upon loop-mediated isothermal amplification technique combined with a lateral flow dipstick (LAMP-LFD) as the detection step. Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Technique (LAMP) LAMP is a powerful new nucleic acid amplification method that detects very low levels of DNA. The method amplifies a few copies of target DNA with high specificity, efficiency and rapidity. The method uses a...

The Botulism Outbreak According to California state and local officials 10 people were hospitalized after they had contracted botulism from eating nacho cheese sauce served at the Valley Oak Food and fuel gas station in Walnut Grove, California. According to CNN the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services wrote in a statement that the cause of the illness “appears to be prepared food, particularly nacho cheese sauce” from a gas station in Walnut Grove. On May 8, health officers from the state Department of Health impounded four bags of Gehl’s cheese sauce and reopened the store to sell prepackaged food items...