Problematic Meatpacker Source of Whole Foods Recall

On Friday, Whole Foods Market issued a recall of all ground beef sold under the Coleman Natural Foods brand name between June 2 and August 6.  Consumers who have Coleman beef bought at Whole Foods Market are urged to discard the contents and save either the packaging or the store receipt to get a refund. Read more

Once Again, Tomatoes Are Safe to Eat

After weeks of getting blamed for causing as many as 1,200 people in 42 states and the District of Columbia to become ill with infection from Salmonella, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has canceled its warning against eating raw tomatoes. The Salmonella outbreak has been the largest outbreak of a food-borne illness in the US in at least a decade. Read more

Texas Grocers Pull Tomatoes Linked to Salmonella Outbreak

Two of the largest retail grocery chains in Texas have pulled most fresh tomatoes from their shelves and from their prepared-foods stations in order to reduce the risk of Salmonella infection that has made 21 Texans sick since mid-April.  The HE Butt Grocery Co. (HEB) and Whole Foods Markets have removed Roma and large, round, field-grown tomatoes from their stores in response to a health alert issued Tuesday by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Read more

Big Tomatoes Cause Big Problems in 9 States

Roma and other large-sized tomatoes have been linked to a Salmonella outbreak that spans nine states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although the tomatoes in question have not been recalled, the CDC urges consumers to cook them instead of eating them raw. Read more

Cream cheese manufacturers shut down

Unsafe Food Handling Shuts Down Illinois Cream Cheese, Seafood Companies

On May 15, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the forced closing of two Illinois companies for failure to maintain adequate food handling procedures and noncompliance with labeling requirements.  Lifeway Foods, Inc., and LFI Enterprises, Inc., a subsidiary of Lifeway, operate facilities in Skokie, Illlnois, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that manufacture cream cheese and seafood-based products. Read more

China Publicly Disputes Tainted Heparin Origin

Officials for the United States met with the Chinese regarding the origin of the tainted heparin that sparked a rash of allergic reactions and several dozen US deaths lately but failed to reach an agreement as to where the contaminant in the drug actually came from and whether the contaminant did, in fact, cause the adverse reactions. Read more

Tougher Rules on Food, Drug Labels

With more than $2 trillion of goods imported into the US from 150 countries each year and 62 recent deaths attributed to tainted heparin coming from China, there is increasing public demand to know where, exactly, their foods, medicines, and medical devices are coming from.  In an effort to supply that increasingly important information, the House Energy and Commerce Committee proposed on Thursday that all labels on fresh produce identify the food’s country of origin.  They also call for corporate websites that identify the country of origin for each ingredient in any given product. Read more

Hired Writers, Not Scientists, Behind Merck’s Vioxx Studies

In a new twist to the ethical issues Merck Inc, faces over Vioxx (rofecoxib), the company’s one-time best seller that was pulled from the market in 2004, because it became closely associated with patient heart attacks, some argue that the company hired writers to fashion the medical publications that their scientists are believed to have written. Many of these publications claim to be based upon the same scientific evidence which supposedly documented the safety of the drug in order to obtain approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Read more

Recalled Malt-O-Meal Cereals Linked to Salmonella Outbreak

The FDA has joined forces with Malt-O-Meal to identify the cause of contamination while state health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working to identify other cases of the disease and to prevent further illness. Read more

Dangerous Levels of Selenium in Total Body Formula

Three flavors in the product line manufactured and distributed nationally by Total Body Essential Nutrition of Atlanta contain dangerously high amounts of the mineral selenium, as much as 200 times or more the amount listed on the products’ labels. The company has issued a voluntary recall and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating the matter after receiving 43 reports of severe adverse reactions from nine states associated with the products. Read more

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