Yup, another food recall because of possible E coli contamination.

Orval Kent Foods has recalled 23,000 pounds of its Amish Macaroni Salad. The packages being recalled include five pound containers with the Orval Kent Amish name (June 12 expiration date) and one, two, and five pound containers sold under the brand name of Yoder's (June 7 expiration date). The salad was sold in nine states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey (sorry, can't find any info on what the other states are).

There are no reports of any sickness yet, but the company doesn't want to take any chances so they have issued the recall.

[via Google News]

Some thieves got away with a bounty of beef -- 14,800 pounds of it, to be exact. But who gets the last laugh? The beef may have been contaminated with E.Coli, so the thieves didn't get much right?

Wrong.

Timothy Biela, Chief Food Safety and Quality Assurance Officer for the company that produced the beef, says they are concerned, not for consumers who purchase beef through normal channels, but "for the safety of those people who may be persuaded to buy beef products under questionable circumstances. We do not know how this product has been handled since it left our control. The stolen truck had only a limited supply of refrigeration fuel."

The beef was produced by Fort Worth-based American Fresh Foods. The company had set the trailer of beef away to eventually be removed from commercial sale. After the trailer was stolen, the USDA issued a public health alert and is now working with local and state law enforcement authorities to recover the stolen product and vehicle.

Earlier this week we reported that United Food Group had recalled 75,000 pounds of beef in Colorado. Now the company has expanded the recall to include New Mexico.

And it's not a little increase in the amount being recalled. To that 75,000 pounds you can now add another 370,000 pounds of ground beef that's being recalled. The details are a bit confusing. At first it sounds like only Colorado and New Mexico are affected, but the beef was actually distributed to 11 states, in over a dozen supermarket chains. Consumers are urged to either return or throw away any meat they might have in their refrigerators.

TechNewsWorld has the complete details at the link above, including the stores/brands affected and a phone number to call if you have any questions.

Update: Now it's 5.7 million pounds.

There seems to have been a large number of food-related product recalls lately, and it has brought up some very valid questions. What happens when consumers don't hear about the recalls of products they have recently purchased, and equally frightening - what happens when the stores that sell these products aren't even aware? The FDA hopes to change that with a 6-month pilot program they are launching, designed to educate and assist consumers in identifying recalled products that could potentially pose significant health risks.

In the test program, they will mostly be focusing on the awareness of class I recalls - tainted products that could potentially cause serious adverse health consequences or death. These include foods contaminated with Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and more, plus those that contain food allergens ingredients such as nuts, soy, dairy, etc. In 2006 alone there were over 100 such recalls, though the average over the past 5 years is more like 188 - quite a significant number.

Even though the ban on fresh bagged and loose leaf spinach from this past September's E. coli scare is long over, the shake that it put on consumer confidence in leafy greens is still there. Even now, consumers are avoiding greens, or buying them less frequently than they otherwise would. A study done at Rutgers found that part of the problem lies in the fact that spinach and other greens are considered to be healthy and that consumers almost feel betrayed by the fact that something wholesome could actually be harmful. This new suspicion is what is keeping sales down. In fact, only 2 out of 3 consumers contacted during the survey knew that the recall was over.

Farms and government agencies alike are looking for ways to mitigate the worries of consumers with oversight at both farm and national levels being discussed. Whether a new standard will be enough to boost consumer confidence to the point where the average diner doesn't look askance at a salad with baby spinach in it remains uncertain. Would it be enough for you?

In light of the E. coli and botulism problems over the past few months that have been linked to California growers, there has been a proposal that new standards should be implemented to ensure that consumers will feel safe and comfortable buying California produce. Most growers have already increased the amount of oversight that their produce recieives, but the new plan involves the creaton of a "seal of approval" for all leafy vegetables. The standards for the seal have not yet been determined, but growers and lawmakers plan to iron out the details later this spring. Issues being considered are how to more effectively test irrigation water and how to keep livestock, primarily cattle, away from cropland.

In spite of the fact that there is no actual plan in place yet, the idea of a "seal of approval" is already being met with opposition, with critics saying that "the industry's proposal relies too heavily on policing itself." This could be a strong argument in other industries, but when it comes to food safety, no one wants to make sure consumers are protected more than the growers whose livelihoods depend on consumer satisfaction with, and confidence in, their products.

It has not been a good couple of weeks in terms of the number of people stricken with food-borne illnesses, even though the Taco Bell incident is officially over. There has been another E. coli outbreak, this time at an Indianapolis Olive Garden. Over 300 people, at least three of whom have been hospitalized, have been exhibiting the classic flu-like symptoms associated with E. coli, including "nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and in some cases fever." All of those afflicted ate that the restaurant (in the northwest part of the city) between December 9 and December 13.

It seems that the problem was first noticed after several employees became ill on Monday. The cause has not yet been identified, but the restaurant has been closed for the moment while an investigation is carried out.

It does seem likely that some kind of vegetable is the cause if previous outbreaks are any indication, but it is worth noting that there is no reason to suspect that this is related to either the spinach or scallion incidents.

After green onions were identified as the source of contamination for an E. coli outbreak at several East Coast Taco Bells, the company not only recalled all the scallions at its 5,800 locations nationwide, but sent out samples of the rest of their food products for testing to ensure that no other foods were at risk. The tests have come back negative, leaving the green onions as the sole source for the bacteria.

Taco Bell has switched produce suppliers, but with 61 cases identified, including 48 hospitalizations and 7 cases of kidney failure, the company is not out of the woods yet. Lawsuits are already being filed on behalf of some of those who were victims of the contamination, and because most chain restaurants have indemnity agreements with their suppliers, the company will be the one held accountable in these cases.

The company is working to sanitize and reopen stores that closed as a result of the outbreak.

Taco Bell has decided to recall all the green onions from all of its 5,800 locations in the US after an outbreak of at least 43 cases of E. coli infections in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania last week. Testing revealed that they were a possible source of the bacteria, although other non-meat sources have not been ruled out yet. Samples of the cilantro, cheddar cheese, blended cheese, yellow onions, tomatoes and lettuce are being sent to FDA labs for testing and comparison to the green onion samples. The states were the infections occurred will be testing their own samples, and Taco Bell is likely to have scientists at work on their behalf, as well. The sources for the potentially contaminated foods are still being identified, but consumers (unless you just ate at a Taco Bell despite the potential health risk) should not worry too much about it because suppliers for large buyers such as Taco Bell rarely sell directly to supermarkets.

Researchers at the USDA have developed an edible coating that will actually kill bacteria on fresh produce. It is intended to be an alternative to conventional or chemical produce washes that will keep the food just as fresh, if not fresher, and reduce the risk of food-borne illness that is associated with fresh produce. The coating is made of apple puree and oregano oil. The oregano oil is a natural antibacterial agent and did a better job at eliminating bacteria than other oils, while the apple puree helps the coating adhere to the fruit/vegetable and takes the edge off the oregano flavor. So far, it has only been tested on E. Coli, where the oregano has been shown to kill at least half of all present bacteria in under 3 minutes. The are planning on developing wrappers in other flavors, as well as targeting different bacteria in the future, including salmonella and listeria.

The products could be commercially available in as little as two years, but they are now being tested by some selected companies and stores.

In addition to the recalls on California-grown spinach and lettuce on recent weeks, there have also been three cases of botulism liked to carrot juice produced in California, two in Canada and one in the US. It may seem as though the golden state is a hotbed of disreputable produce, but in fact so much is grown in the state that these incidents should hardly be enough to provoke widespread panic.

As much as 80% of Canadian produce, and a huge amount of US produce, comes from California and, though these few cases are certainly discouraging, the vast majority of it is fine. Companies are working to eliminate the possibility of E.coli contamination in their processing centers. Botulism is from a naturally occurring organism found in soil and, with most produce, processing should eliminate any and all traces of it from food. Raw vegetables, particularly "sugary, root vegetables " like carrots, still carry a risk factor, which is how it got in to the carrot juice in the first place.

Trying for locally grown products can provide some piece of mind, but local farmers can have the same problems, for example, by potentially exposing their crops to E.coli by using manure as fertilizer. To reduce any risks as much as possible, especially when there has been a recall of any kind, wash everything as well as you can and, if seriously in doubt, you can always cook you vegetables instead of eating them raw, which will increase the chances of killing off anything undesirable that might be in them.

With the recent rash of e. coli that's broken out and gotten all of us itchy about spinach, it's time for a little brush-up on food safety. Of course we all know about safe handling of eggs and poultry - wash everything, and cook it until it's dry as a bone (or something like that).

But fruits and vegetables require safe handling as well. Take, for instance, a cantaloupe. Bacteria can "hang out" in the nook and crannies that are characteristic of the camataloupe's webbed skin. We certainly don't eat the skin of a melon, but if there are harmful things on the outside, they can get onto the surfaces of the inside flesh that you eat when you cut through the peel.

There are several online sources that provide helpful hints for safe-handling of food. The government site, FoodSafety.gov has alerts and warning on its front page. We have mentioned the site before here at Slashfood, but FightBac is also a great resource for information about how to keep your food free of bacteria. Another good resource to which a reader tipped us off (thanks, Jen!) is the Consumer Reports Safety Blog, which has a section dedicated to food safety.

Now that more than 100 cases of E. coli infections and one fatality have resulted from contaminated bagged spinach, the National Restaurant Association has recommended that restaurants remove spinach from their menus, at least for the time being. McDonald's and several other chains, including California Pizza Kitchen, have already done so. The infections have been reported in 19 states so far and the cause has not yet been confirmed, but it is now suspected that contaminated irrigation water, which the spinach is exposed to when it is packed in the field, may have been a contributing factor.

The FDA is recommending avoiding all fresh spinach or salad blends with spinach, even spinach that is being sold at farmers markets. Washing it will not kill the bacteria and can even spread it around. Similarly, while cooking spinach can kill E. coli, you still run the risk of contamination just from handling it. If you really have your heart set on making a spinach dish, frozen spinach is the safest choice.