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One of Israel’s largest food manufacturers, Stauss, just announced the biggest recall in Israeli history due to Salmonella in some of its products. Strauss Group announced that numerous popular chocolate products produced by its subsidiary company Elite were being recalled due to concerns of Salmonella contamination. The company and Israeli government officials scrambled to answer questions raised by the massive recall of Strauss products, and stores pulled chocolate, ice cream, cookies, and other products off shelves. The Health Ministry said that Strauss was informed that lab tests on some of its consumer-ready products tested positive for Salmonella. At least three people have been hospitalized with suspected salmonella poisoning from Strauss goods. There is criticism of the company’s decision to wait nearly a week after discovering there may have been a salmonella outbreak to announce the recall. Ministry officials have defended the delay, noting that the initial salmonella detection was in the factory area rather than the products themselves. At least two children and one adult have sought medical attention with suspected cases of salmonella poisoning following the recall. The products affected include some of Israel’s most popular snacks: Pesek Zman bars (those marked best before December 1, 2022, to April 1, 2023), Reva L’Sheva bars (best before between May 1, 2022, to December 15, 2023), Kif Kef, Taami, Egozi and Energy bars (best before July 1, 2022, to January 1, 2023), Parra Chocolate bars (best before October 1, 2022, to April 24, 2023) — all produced by Elite. The recall was later expanded to include the Milky chocolate pudding topped with chocolate lentils and a wide range of ice cream products, added out of an abundance of caution due to their inclusion of some Elite chocolate products. @ https://www.timesofisrael.com/strauss-offers-to-double-refunds-as-salmonella-scare-clears-products-off-shelves/

The USDA/FSIS reported that Lakeside Refrigerated Services (Swedesboro, N.J.) recalls approximately 120,872 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O103. The ground beef products were produced from February 1, 2022, through April 8, 2022. The recalled products bear the establishment number “EST. 46841” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to retail locations nationwide. The problem was discovered during routine FSIS testing of imported products. There have been no confirmed reports of illness or adverse reactions due to the consumption of these products. Many clinical laboratories do not test for non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) such as O103 because it is harder to identify than STEC O157:H7. People can become ill from STECs 2–8 days (an average of 3–4 days) after consuming the organism.@ https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/lakeside-refrigerated-services-recalls-ground-beef-products-due-possible-e-coli-o103

The Israeli chocolate maker Strauss (one of Israel’s largest food manufacturers )found salmonella in raw chocolate used for some of the company’s products on the eve of Passover and notified the Israeli Health Ministry but waited almost a week before alerting the public. The products being recalled belonging to its “Elite” line of chocolate snacks include the famous Shokolad Para, Pesek Zman, Egozi, Kif Kef candy bars, Energy chocolate-coated crackers, and Bonbonniere candy boxes, among others. Strauss announced that the production of the various chocolate products in the factory was immediately halted. Products manufactured in the vicinity of the discovery of salmonella were blocked from distribution. Strauss doesn’t know how many, or if any, contaminated products were sold to customers. Earlier this month, Israel joined the recall of Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs issued by the British Food Standards Agency due to contamination with salmonella. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-s-top-chocolate-maker-recalls-popular-brands-over-salmonella-outbreak-1.10760873

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) keeps expanding its recall of various organic poppy seeds due to possible salmonella contamination. Other brands were added to the original poppy seed recall on April 15, and the Inari brand recall on April 12. The recall covers GPE brand name organic poppy seeds in five kilogram packages sold in Ontario and Saskatchewan. The recalled products also include the following brands: Grain Process Enterprises Ltd., Johnvince Foods, Healthy Planet, and Natural Food Pantry, as well select organic poppy seeds without a brand name that were sold in bulk are also being recalled. The affected products were sold between March 2020 and April 2022 at different locations in Ontario and Saskatchewan. There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-poppy-seeds-recalled-due-salmonella-3