Its “Glacier Mountain” bottled water does not come from “Artesian Wells” and is not “deionized.” Its Ugly Mug Coffee does not come from either Peru or Costa Rica as listed on the label.
Yet for its brands, Memphis-based Lambert’s Inc. claims “Glacier Mountain” bottled water is “Pure Artesian Well Water” and that it is “From the Memphis, TN Artesian Wells.” It says the water is deionized.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in a June 21 warning letter to Lambert’s, says “Glacier Mountain” bottles are filled at a municipal tap.
Lambert’s says its Ugly Mug coffee is from Peru and Costa Rica, elite coffee growing areas. FDA says it knows Ugly Mug coffee does not come from those countries and questions the accuracy of the use of “Cafe Columbia” as the origin of a Lambert’s Coffee® Roasters product.
FDA calls all of those problems “misbranding,” but it calls all the beverage maker’s products “adulterated” because they have been “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth.”
Among the “significant deviations” cited by FDA were:
-Lambert’s failed to sample and inspect containers and closures with bacteriological swabs at least once every quarter as required.
- The bottler also failed to do a once a week bacteriological test of a batch or segment of a production run.
-It also failed to do chemical, physical and radiological analysis for a batch or segment of a water from a day’s production run.
-The processing facility failed to maintain proper records of such actions as physical inspections and maintenance, and sampling and testing.
-Lambert’s failed to ensure sanitizing operations. (FDA did not disclose some details about the method used by the company for sanitizing purposes.)
-Its water treatment does not demonstrate that certain residual levels are not exceeded.
-Bottles were not adequately cleaned, sanitized, and inspected just prior to being filled, capped and sealed.
-An unapproved sanitizer is being used.
-Bottling machines are not being inspected as often as required and an FDA inspector observed rusting fill heads on the bottle neck inversion part of the mechanical washer.
-Manual filling and capping is not being conducted in a sanitary manner. Filled open bottles are left on the conveyor until an employee caps them by hand.
-A gloved employee was observed going back and forth between handling “dirty” returned containers and “clean” ones without changing gloves.
-The coffee and bottled water manufacturing operations are being conducted in an open warehouse where cobwebs, dust, and dirt are abundant on ceilings, walls and fixtures.
FDA asked Lambert’s to respond to the warning letter within 15 working days.
Reasons to like being in the news business are usually led by the fact that one never knows what is coming and no two days are the same.
At the time when the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20 killing 11 men, it certainly did not cross my mind that it would also turn into a major food safety story. At the time, Thad Allen’s Coast Guard said little oil had spilled as a result of the tragedy.
When those initial reports turned out to be less than truthful and when it was thought that 5,000 barrels of oil were gushing up from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, Food Safety News went into its equivalent of our Def Con 1.
We sent reporters to three Gulf states and called in Ross Anderson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. We focused on what was going on with the shrimp, oyster, and other segments of the Gulf seafood industry.
We made some good contacts, and both from the Gulf and since returning we have tried to keep our readers current with the Gulf seafood story.
Now after 85 days and more failures to perform than a eunuch on his wedding night, BP has not killed but has capped the well, meaning perhaps that the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history is finally under some control.
As the 90th day since the explosion approaches this coming Tuesday, there are still lots of things that could go wrong, including the possibility that the sea floor could rupture.
But with no oil spilling into the Gulf from Deepwater at least for the moment, locals are already thinking about what that will mean.
Thought this disaster, Ed Cake, the oyster expert from D’Iberville, MS, has assisted Food Safety News and many others.
Cake says BP getting control of its oil again is the “best news” since the “Gulf of Oil” disaster began. “And now we wait,” Cake writes, for the rest of BP’s ‘oil berg’ to arrive, to dissipate, and to continue to wreck havoc on our fishing and tourism industry.”
Cake says the environmental and economic tragedy “is not over by a long shot.” Having gone through Hurricane Katrina, Cake predicts media coverage “will decline exponentially” as people nationally lose interest in the story.
Food Safety News will not be dropping this story. We’re going to stay on top of who’s doing research and how it comes out. The clean up and restoration of the Gulf of Mexico is too important to let it drop from our priorities.
If the spill is over, the Gulf story might not be as hot, but it is possible that for those staying on the story it will produce more light. For example, maybe now federal agencies will begin testing seafood for the presence of the dispersant as well as the oil.
BP’s ability to co-opt federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, on it is use of 1.8 million gallons of the dispersant Corexit is topic that has many Gulf locals rolling their eyes.
BP using the U.S. Coast Guard as its private windup army, ordering media out of obviously public places if there is something there it does not want the public too see, are obvious examples of why “Obama Administration transparency” has become an oxymoron.
For the folks in the seafood industry in the Gulf, there will most certainly be more bad news ahead. But let’s hope to steal a quote from Winton Churchill that we are at least at the “end of the beginning” of this truly terrible event.
Or as one Gulf resident said: “Hallelujah!”
Two low-acid canned food facilities in Spain, inspected in February by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have recently received warning letters about their operations.
Industrias Alimentarias De Navarra, S.A.U., based in Villafranco Navarra northeast of Madrid, received a warning letter from FDA on May 27 about its canned black olives. Then in a June 16 warning letter to Cruz Perez Hermanos, S.A., located in Moana Pontevedra near Spain’s west coast, FDA expressed concerns about Octopus in Oil.
FDA told both companies their imports to the United States could be impacted if they do not take prompt corrective action. FDA has the power to list foreign food manufacturers in its “Import Alert,” and detain their products at the border.
FDA told De Navarra, which produces black olives, that it must determine and record temperatures during processing. It also asked the company to improve its methods for temperature process deviations.
Hermanos, S.A., which makes Octopus in Oil, was also told its product is “adulterated” because of violations of low-acid canned food regulations. FDA called out the company for:
-not providing process information.
-failing to use a mercury-in-glass (MIG) thermometer.
-failing to determine and record temperatures.
-no written record to visual observations.
Spain is one of the USA’s top trading partners. The worldwide economic crunch led to a 29.1 percent decline in Spain’s exports to the U.S during 2009 when the total reached $7.9 billion. The food sector that includes the Olives and Octopus being shipped by these two companies approached $300 million.
Spain imported goods worth $8.8 billion from the United States during 2009 for a trade surplus of about $900 million.
FDA gives foreign companies 30 days to respond to warning letters, and asks that responses be provided in English.
The latest recall of selected romaine lettuce by Fresh Express is almost an exact duplicate of a recall the company went through in May.
There is one major exception, however. May’s recall of Fresh Express Romaine-based ready to eat salads occurred because the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) had found Salmonella contamination. This second recall concerns possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination.
Other than that, most of the details are remarkably similar.
Both the May and July recalls are for Romaine-based products with an “S” in their product codes and both recalls came just a few days after the “use by” dates had passed.
So as in May, most of the potentially contaminated product is probably not going to be found in grocery store coolers but in the home crisper drawers of consumers who already bought the product.
No illnesses were associated with the May recall, and so far, none are known to be linked to the July recall.
The footprints for the two recalls are also remarkably similar. Twenty states and most of Canada are involved. Canada was first by a few hours with details on the July 14 recall of the selected romaine lettuce products.
The affected romaine products have “use-by” dates of July 9-12 and have an “S” in the product code.
This time FDA found E. coli O157:H7 in a random test of a package of Hearts of Romaine.
The latest recalled salad products were distributed in Arizona, Arkansas, California Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, Washington, and Nevada.
The list of states for the May recall also included Alaska.
Fresh Express is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International.
Anyone with questions can contact the Fresh Express Consumer Response Center at 800-242-5472.
Fresh Express List of Recalled Products for the United States
Every chef and restaurateur aspires to be recognized for culinary excellence, and one of the most sought-after acclaims is a listing in the prestigious Michelin guide. Restaurants and hotels in Chicago now have that opportunity; the famous dining guide announced it would publish “Michelin Guide Chicago 2011″ this fall.
Guests at Tuesday’s launch party at the Chicago Cultural Center yesterday included Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, chef/restaurateur Rick Bayless … and the National Restaurant Association.
The Association’s environmental sustainability expert Chris Moyer chatted with Daley about restaurants ramping up their “green” efforts and the NRA’s Greener Restaurants education and recognition program set to launch this summer. The program is the newest addition to the Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability initiative.
At the party, Jean-Luc Naret, worldwide director, Michelin Guide, told the Chicago Sun-Times that 10 inspectors had been secretly eating their way around the city for two years. He compared being a Michelin inspector to being in the CIA or witness-protection program. “The food is much
better, of course,” he told the newspaper. Read the Sun-Times article.
The United Fresh Produce Association’s Washington Public Policy Conference, scheduled for September 14-16, 2010 in Washington, DC, will focus on the fresh-cut segment and on small farms, local and regional food systems and pesticide residues.
During the three day conference, United Fresh will offer four Market Segment Breakout Sessions.
The Grower-Shipper session will focus on getting back to the real science behind pesticide residues, while the Fresh-Cut Processor session will discuss the image of fresh-cut and legislative/regulatory ramifications. The Retail-Foodservice session will focus on the role of buyers in assuring small farm food safety and the Wholesaler-Distributor session will discuss the role of wholesalers and distributors as the key to regional food systems.
“This allows us to take the very tangible concerns that our members have about these issues and address them in a constructive, smaller-group setting,” said United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel.
“Starting with food safety, each of these issues is of extreme importance to our industry, yet each carries with it a certain amount of confusion. These breakout sessions give us the chance to educate the industry, while at the same time clearing up any misconception,” Stenzel commented.
The Washington Public Policy Conference is an annual meeting where attendees gather to discuss food safety, farm labor, nutrition and consumption, locally grown, and other priority issues for the fresh fruit and vegetable industry.
During the conference, attendees will also participate in a March on Capitol Hill, where industry members will meet with lawmakers and staff; discuss food safety policies with FDA officials, hear from key Cabinet members, and engage in face-to-face dialog with President Obama’s executive team.
In addition, the conference will feature a Management Resource Center, which enables attendees to research and explore new solutions and technology providers. The Fresh Festival, where House and Senate lawmakers and their staff join attendees to sample various fruits and vegetables the produce industry has to offer, will also happen during the three days.
This year’s meeting will be held at the Gaylord National Hotel in the Nation’s Capitol.
For more information on this year’s Washington Public Policy Conference, please see the United Fresh Website.
