PLANT CITY -- "Marjon Specialty Foods" of Plant City is recalling 2-ounce single-serving packages of sliced apples because they have tested positive for listeria.
The bacteria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. If you have these apples do not eat them.
Only the 2-ounce packages are affected. Phone Number: 813-752-3482; Weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT
State Health Department Issues Salmonella Warning (IA)
**Suspected Source: Reptiles.**
By Cindy Hadish
CEDAR RAPIDS – State health officials are warning Iowans about touching reptiles after two Eastern Iowans contracted salmonella.
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the two illnesses could be associated with a national outbreak linked to exposure to snakes, turtles, lizards or other reptiles.
Department spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm said the two patients contracted the illness – Salmonella Typhimurium – between May 22 and June 13.
Symptoms included diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills and stomach cramps.
Carver-Kimm said both patients made a full recovery.
The department does not identify individuals and only will say in general where a patient resides.
About 70,000 people get salmonellosis from contact with reptiles in the United States each year.
FDA: New Final Rule to Ensure Egg Safety, Reduce Salmonella Illnesses Goes Into Effect
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that as many as 79,000 illnesses and 30 deaths due to consumption of eggs contaminated with the bacterium Salmonella Enteritidis may be avoided each year with new food safety requirements for large-scale egg producers.
The new food safety requirements will become effective on July 9, 2010, through a rule for egg producers having 50,000 or more laying hens – about 80 percent of production. Among other things, it requires them to adopt preventive measures and to use refrigeration during egg storage and transportation.
Large-scale egg producers that produce shell eggs for human consumption and that do not sell all of their eggs directly to consumers must comply with the refrigeration requirements under the rule; this includes producers whose eggs receive treatments such as pasteurization. Similarly, those who transport or hold shell eggs must also comply with the refrigeration requirements by the same effective date.
Egg-associated illness caused by Salmonella is a serious public health problem. Infected individuals may suffer mild to severe gastrointestinal illness, short-term or chronic arthritis, or even death. Implementing the preventive measures would reduce the number of Salmonella Enteritidis infections from eggs by nearly 60 percent. Salmonella Enteritidis can be found inside eggs that appear normal. If the eggs are eaten raw or undercooked, the bacterium can cause illness. Eggs in the shell become contaminated on the farm, primarily because of infection in the laying hens.
“Preventing harm to consumers is our first priority,” said Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., commissioner of food and drugs. “Today's action will help prevent thousands of serious illnesses from Salmonella in eggs.”
The rule requires egg producers with fewer than 50,000 but at least 3,000 laying hens whose shell eggs are not processed with a treatment, such as pasteurization, to comply with the regulation by July 9, 2012.
Producers who sell all their eggs directly to consumers or have less than 3,000 hens are not covered by the rule.
Under the rule, egg producers whose shell eggs are not processed with a treatment, such as pasteurization must:
• Buy chicks and young hens only from suppliers who monitor for Salmonella bacteria
• Establish rodent, pest control, and biosecurity measures to prevent spread of bacteria throughout the farm by people and equipment
• Conduct testing in the poultry house for Salmonella Enteritidis. If the tests find the bacterium, a representative sample of the eggs must be tested over an eight-week time period (four tests at two-week intervals); if any of the four egg tests is positive, the producer must further process the eggs to destroy the bacteria, or divert the eggs to a non-food use
• Clean and disinfect poultry houses that have tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis
• Refrigerate eggs at 45 degrees F during storage and transportation no later than 36 hours after the eggs are laid (this requirement also applies to egg producers whose eggs receive a treatment, such as pasteurization).
To ensure compliance, egg producers must maintain a written Salmonella Enteritidis prevention plan and records documenting their compliance. Egg producers covered by this rule must also register with the FDA. The FDA will develop guidance and enforcement plans to help egg producers comply with the rule.
S.T.O.P. in the News: Advocates Run Ads Urging Senate to Pass Food Safety Bill
**S.T.O.P. members Rylee and Lauren are featured in the two ads run by the coalition mentioned below.**
A year after House Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly approved legislation to improve food safety, public health advocates are growing frustrated that the Senate has yet to take up the bill.
A coalition of food safety groups tried to turn up the pressure last week on Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), running newspaper ads in the lawmakers' two states featuring constituents who fell seriously ill from food poisoning. The ads urged Reid and McConnell to move the bill to the Senate floor and pass it.
"Time is short -- there are not a lot of legislative days on the calendar and we're seeing [food] recalls every week," said Erik Olson with the food and consumer product safety programs at Pew Health Group. "There is obviously a lot of interest in making sure folks know this bill has broad public support and that there is really no reason not to move this. It would show that Washington can get something done."
Pew Charitable Trusts released results of a poll conducted in Nevada, where Reid is facing a tough reelection campaign, finding that 71 percent of voters think the Senate should pass the bill.
On Wednesday, President Obama said in a statement that he supported passage of the Senate bill and that it would give the government the tools it needs to ensure food safety.
The bill, which would be the first major change to food safety laws in 70 years, is designed to give the Food and Drug Administration vast new regulatory authority over food production. It places greater responsibility on manufacturers and farmers to produce food free from contamination -- a departure from the country's reactive tradition, which has relied on government inspectors to catch tainted food after the fact.
The legislation follows a wave of food-borne illnesses over the past four years, involving products as varied as spinach and cookie dough, which has shaken consumer confidence and made the issue a priority for many lawmakers and the White House. Food illnesses affect one in four Americans and kill 5,000 each year, according to government statistics. Tainted food has cost the food industry billions of dollars in recalls, lost sales and legal expenses.
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