Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Attention, Southwestern Whole Foods Shoppers: Your Pesto Pasta Salad may be Contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Green Cuisine has initiated a voluntary recall of it “Pesto Pasta Salad with Arugula” because the pasta salad may potentially be contaminated with Listeria, a potentially fatal bacteria that disproportionately affects young children, people otherwise immunocompromised individuals, and the elderly. Healthy individuals may contract the illness ass well; however, these individuals tend to experience short-term symptoms limited to high fever, stiff neck, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea and headache. The recall comes after the supplier to Green Cuisine, Natural Frozen Foods, notified the company that the frozen…

Let’s Do Lunch, Inc. (doing business as Integrated Food Service (IFS)) has issued a voluntary recall notice for certain ready-to-eat sandwiches because they may be contaminated with the potentially lethal bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. The sandwiches were distributed directly to school districts and foodservice distributors. Recall Affects Products Distributed Directly to School Districts The recalled products were distributed nationwide “directly to a number of school districts and to foodservice distributors that serve school districts.” No retail products are affected by the recall; only those distributed to school districts and foodservice distributors. The recall comes as the result of multiple positive tests on…

Crescent Specialty Foods, Inc. announced a voluntary recall of one of the company’s products – 6 ounce bags of “Crescent Pistachio Raw,” UPC 8 95296 00103 5 – on Thursday afternoon. The pistachio recall was provoked by public health officials’ fear of Salmonella contamination. Crescent Pistachios Test Positive for Salmonella, Spur Yet Another Pistachio Recall in 2016 The Everett, Washington Company announced the voluntary recall on June 16th after receiving positive Salmonella test results. The recall followed testing conducted as part of a random and routine sampling program. The tests, which the recall notice states were conducted by an “FDA third…

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, a Newark, New Jersey company is recalling 3,586 pounds of beef cuts due to the fact that they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. G & M Co. Beef Tests Positive for E. coli O157:H7 On June 14th, G & M Co. received a confirmed positive test result for E. coli O157:H7. After the issue was identified, FSIS Inspection Program Personnel (IPP) conducted trace-back and trace-forward activities. FSIS identified beef cuts and trimmings produced by G & M Co. and shipped to retail locations in New Jersey and…

Ajuua’s Mexican Restaurant closed its doors last Monday at the request of the Health Department after two “confirmed Salmonella infections were traced back” to the restaurant, said Health Department Director Gino Solla. Restaurant management missed its target opening date, but only by one day and only due to the slow process of obtaining test results for employees as required by law. The restaurant opened with a skeleton crew of 10 on Saturday morning at 9:00 am. It took only three days for the restaurant to receive more startling news: seven of its employees received positive test results for the outbreak strain of Salmonella. Earlier Monday…

Three children in King County under the age of five developed of Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) infections during the last week of May and first week of June. The children began experiencing symptoms, including bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, on May 20th, May 28th, and May 29th. The department in charge of public health in King County now believes the cases may be unrelated. On June 8th, the Seattle & King County Public Health authority issued a health advisory regarding the increase in STEC infections and asking the residents of King County to be “aware of a recent increase in…

Ector County public health officials continue to deal with an outbreak of salmonella linked to Ajuua’s Mexican restaurant, a popular local eatery located in the Odessa, Texas. As of the latest official Ector County Health Department update, department director Gino Solla stated that laboratory tests had confirmed an additional case of salmonella, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to three. In addition, the number of probable cases had increased from 18 to 24, a 30% increase from the first announcement. Ajuua’s Forced to Remain Closed One Day Longer than Planned Julian Rubio, CEO of Ajuua’s Mexican Restaurant, announced plans for a…

Noah Thompson, a fourteen-year-old Muay Thai and kickboxing enthusiast, planned to spend his summer training for his first competition in August. Instead, Thompson has spent all of June in the Intensive Care Unit at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children after eating a contaminated meal at local restaurant Pho 75, and doctors say they might “keep him in the hospital for the next six weeks.” Public Health Officials Link E. coli O157 Outbreak to Pho 75 The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) confirmed that it is currently investigating an E. coli O157 outbreak in Aurora, Colorado. Investigators have already determined that…

Late Friday evening, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated the report regarding the agency’s ongoing investigation of an ongoing 20-state outbreak of E. coli O121 linked to Gold Medal, Wondra, and Signature Kitchen-brand flour processed at a single General Mills facility during November 2015. The updated release states that the outbreak, which at the time it was first announced was linked to General Mills flour by strong circumstantial evidence collected during the course of the investigation, has now also been confirmed by finding the outbreak strain of E. coli in recalled flour collected from the home of an individual who contracted the…

King County – Washington’s most populous county and the one in which Seattle is located – has seen a recent increase in Shiga-toxin producing E. coli infections among children under the age of five, according to a county health advisory issued this week. The county reports that “three cases of E. coli O157 infection have been reported” in King County children under the age of five “since late May.” At first blush, three cases may seem to be relatively insignificant; however, the development of a potentially fatal complication called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) in two of the three cases is what makes the increase in cases both…