Tradewind Foods de Puerto Rico Inc. of Bayamon, PR is recalling Goya Red Kidney Beans after an FDA Inspection discovered swollen and leaking cans. According to the details posted online by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), the recall was initiated on March 21, 2024, and is ongoing. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), consumers should never use food from cans that are leaking, bulging, or badly dented; cracked jars or jars with loose or bulging lids; canned food with a foul odor; or any container that spurts liquid when opening. Such cans could contain Clostridium bot ..read more

Imported beef is to blame for a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 50 people, according to Danish officials. Since March, 51 people in Denmark have been infected with the same type of Salmonella, said the Statens Serum Institut (SSI). The Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak has sickened 31 men and 20 women. Patients are between the ages of less than 1 year old to 83 years old with a median age of 37. They live throughout the country. 18 people have been hospitalized but no deaths have been recorded. From patient interviews, 35 of 37 people reported eating ground beef prior to disease ..read more

How surprised was science when bird flu was detected in dairy cattle with those warnings against raw milk or eating unpasteurized dairy products? Two Auburn University researchers are offering their expertise on the topic. Dr. Shollie Falkenberg, an associate professor and coordinator of animal health research, and Dr. Cris Young, a professor of practice at Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine, provide the following informed, broad perspective on the issue. The expertise and opinions of individual faculty members do not necessarily represent an official policy or position of ..read more

A global food standards-setting body has advanced work on various issues, including lead levels, Ciguatera, and tropane alkaloids. The latest Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food session was held in Panama City in April. New maximum levels (MLs) were agreed for lead in various spices, including dried aril, dried seeds, dried rhizomes and roots including galangal, dried bark, dried floral parts, dried fruit and berries, paprika, and sumac. New MLs were also agreed on 0.15 mg/kg for cadmium and 0.2 mg/kg for lead in quinoa. However, the Indian delegation said more time and research were ..read more

A food safety line item in the federal budget would go a long way toward “bringing clarity and certainty” to the human foods programs of the Food and Drug Administration. House and Senate Appropriations leaders are finding themselves subject to just such a lobbying approach by some 21 consumer and industry groups as well as state and local food safety agencies. In letters to House and Senate Appropriations leaders, the food safety line item advocates call the elected officials to FDA’s restructuring of the human foods program to “streamline operations and better fulfill its mission of food saf ..read more

Almost 550 people have fallen sick in a large food poisoning outbreak in Vietnam. People were taken ill after eating at a bakery in Long Khánh, a city in Đồng Nai Province. In the past week, 547 people were sickened, according to the Dong Nai Department of Health. 466 cases have been discharged from hospitals and continue to be monitored at home, while 81 patients are being treated in hospital. Operations at the Cô Băng bakery were temporarily suspended while authorities investigated the incident. Officials said more than 1,000 banh mi sandwiches were sold to consumers, with some later develop ..read more

The Food and Drug Administration continues using import alerts to enforce U.S. food safety regulations for food from foreign countries. The agency updates and modifies the alerts as needed. Recent modifications to FDA’s import alerts, as posted by the agency, are listed below.  Click here to go to the FDA page with links to details on specific alerts. See chart below for list of alert modifications. Click on table to enlarge. Use link above to go to FDA page with links to specific alerts. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News,click here ..read more

Researchers have shared details about how a Listeria outbreak in Switzerland in 2022 traced to fish was solved. In the summer of 2022, the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) noticed increased reports of listeriosis cases, indicating a possible outbreak. Twenty Listeria monocytogenes patient isolates were found to belong to an outbreak cluster, and 18 cases occurred in northeastern Switzerland. The median age of patients was 77.4 years old, with a range of 58 to 89 years old, and both sexes were equally affected. Nineteen people were hospitalized, and one person died. In April 2022, fo ..read more

It’s unknown if humans can become infected with the Avian Flu virus from unpasteurized, raw milk, but we’ve certainly set up the experiment to find out. That’s because several state legislatures in recent years have eased up on raw milk restrictions, mostly to permit the direct transfer of the it at the dairy or a nearby farmers market. However, some states allow raw milk at retail stores. The direct sale of raw milk contrasts with the Food and Drug Administration’s long-standing recommendation against consuming raw milk. It remains against federal law to sell unpasteurized, raw milk across st ..read more

A woman facing charges in a fatal mushroom poisoning incident in Australia has pleaded not guilty to murder. Erin Patterson entered the plea at Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court and was remanded in custody. The case will now be moved to the Supreme Court of Victoria for trial, with the first hearing set for later this month. Detectives from Victoria Police arrested the 49-year-old in November 2023. She was charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder. In July 2023, four people were taken to hospital after they became ill following a meal at a private residence in Leongatha ..read more