Quantcast

Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Sprouts’

Could the Healthiest Food Also be the Deadliest?

October 10th, 2009 4 comments

The consumer watchdog group CSPI published [PDF] a provocative list of 10 healthy foods that have been involved in large scale contamination in the past few years:

  1. LEAFY GREENS: 363 outbreaks involving 13,568 reported cases of illness
  2. EGGS: 352 outbreaks , 11,163 illness
  3. TUNA: 268 outbreaks , 2341 illness
  4. OYSTERS: 132 outbreaks , 3409 illness
  5. POTATOES: 108 outbreaks , 3659 illness
  6. CHEESE: 83 outbreaks , 2761 illness
  7. ICE CREAM: 74 outbreaks , 2594 illness
  8. TOMATOES: 31 outbreaks , 3292 illness
  9. SPROUTS: 31 outbreaks , 2022 illness
  10. BERRIES: 25 outbreaks , 3397 illness

The group is not trying to scare us away from these foods, it is simply pointing out a fact that the FDA must do a better job of enforcing safety regulations on growers, shippers, and manufacturers. The FDA should be given the tools by law:

the United States Senate should follow the House and pass legislation that reforms our fossilized food safety laws

What you need to know:

Food Safety is something we take for granted when everything is OK. But a rushed trip to the emergency room, fevers, cramps, bloody stools, or worse remind us how fragile we are vs tiny contaminants that find their way into our food. And the grave responsibility of the entire supply chain in providing us safe food.

While we believe that most companies try to maintain high standards of safety, there is always room for improvement. Unfortunately, many times the pressure to cut costs is at odds with additional safety measures.

Just this past January the great peanut butter recall exposed how easy it is for one bad apple (or in this case peanut) to infiltrate hundreds of food items.

Get Fooducated: RSS Subscription or Email Subscription

Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate

Help us test our new food comparison tool: alpha.fooducate.com

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Some Product Recalls to Kick Off the Week

September 8th, 2008 No comments
Pataks Dopiaza Cooking Sauce

Patak's Dopiaza Cooking Sauce

Sept 5 – Patak’s Dopiaza Cooking Sauce – ACH Food Companies, Inc. of Memphis, Tennessee is recalling its Patak’s® Dopiaza Cooking Sauce sold in the United States because it may contain an undeclared milk allergen. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk may run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products. The product is distributed nationally through retail stores. ACH Food Companies is notifying its distributors and stores that carry this product that it contains an undeclared milk allergen and to immediately remove it from distribution. read more…

 Sprouters Northwest, Inc. Recalls Alfalfa Sprout Products Because of Possible Health Concern

Sprouters Northwest, Inc. Recalls Alfalfa Sprout Products Because of Possible Health Concern

Sept 5 – Sprouters Northwest, Inc. of Kent, Washington is recalling its alfalfa sprout products (alfalfa sprouts, onion sprouts, and salad sprouts) because they may be linked to a recent outbreak of Salmonellosis in Oregon and Washington State. To date, 13 cases of Salmonella Typhimirium infection have been associated with the consumption of raw alfalfa sprouts. read more…