The rising economic prowess of India is expected to spur a huge change in how people consume milk in India, benefitting organised dairy companies present in the country.
Taiwan has said it would intensify checks on imported products into the country after a batch of concentrate for a Coca-Cola product was found to contain a preservative banned in the country.
Oregon’s politically powerful George family, owners of the George Packing Co. in Newberg, was probably expecting the July 15 warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Prominent among Oregon’s hazelnut growers, the George Packing Company last March had already been implicated in a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 attributed to unshelled hazelnuts.
The warning letter made public Tuesday says FDA inspectors were at the George packing house and warehouse from last March 1-24 and found filth and rodents, but apparently no O157 contamination.
Oregon’s 650 hazelnut growers, who produce about 35,000 tons a year, have for the past couple years dealt with Salmonella contamination and recalls.
But the multistate E. coli outbreak earlier this year, infecting eight in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, also pointed back to Oregon through DeFranco & Son in Los Angles, which was forced to recall nuts that some said came through the George Packing Co.
“The food at your facility is adulterated within the meaning of section 402(a)(4) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 342(a)(4)], in that it was prepared, packed, and held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health,” the warning letter says.
”For example, our investigators broke down a pallet of Barcelona hazelnuts and observed a dead rodent among gnawed hazelnuts and numerous rodent pellets. In addition, at the time of the inspection, our investigator observed a gap under the door and between the door and the door frame on the rolling door on the west wall, as well as a gap under the rolling door on the north wall.
“These gaps were sufficient for rodents to gain access to the warehouse. Our investigator documented that you corrected these gaps prior to the close of the inspection. Nevertheless, our evidence demonstrates that rodents were already in the facility. Closing the gaps does not control the rodents that had already gained access. ”Your hazelnuts are also adulterated within the meaning of section 402(a)(3) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 342(a)(3)], because they consist in whole or in part of a filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance, or are otherwise unfit for food. For example, a sample comprised of 10 subsamples collected from bags of Ennis and Barcelona hazelnuts on pallets throughout the facility during our inspection was analyzed for filth. Every subsample yielded evidence of rodent activity and filth. The evidence included mouse pellets, gnaw marks on shells and bags, feathers, human hair, mouse hair and dog/cat hair.”
The staff at George Packing Co. cleaned and sanitized the facility, but failed to document exactly what was done, FDA said.
George Packing Co. was given 15 days to respond to FDA’s warning.
Porcupine Sliders, turkey burgers jazzed up with brown rice, spinach, celery, garlic spices and dried cranberries, captured the grand prize in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Recipes for Healthy Kids competition.
The Porcupine Sliders were served up by the team from Intermediate District 287, South Education Center Alternative in Richfield, Minn. at the national cook-off held during the American Culinary Federation National Convention earlier this week.
White House chef Sam Kass acted as master of ceremonies for the cook-off.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the First Lady launched the Recipes for Healthy Kids competition last September, challenging teams of school nutrition professionals, chefs, students, and community members to develop creative, nutritious and kid-approved recipes that schools can easily incorporate into National School Lunch Program menus. Schools across the country submitted 340 recipes.
Finalists in the recipe cook-off also included Central Valley Harvest Bake, submitted by Joshua Cowell School in Manteca, Calif.; and Tuscan Smoked Turkey & Bean Soup submitted by Ira B. Jones Elementary School in Asheville, N.C. Competing teams submitted recipes in three categories: Dry Beans, Dark Green-Orange Vegetables, and Whole Grains.
The top 10 recipes in each category will be published in a Recipes for Healthy Kids cookbook.
The contest is a component of the First Lady’s broader Let’s Move! initiative that also includes Chefs Move to Schools, which encourages chefs to work with schools in their communities.
A Chinese court doled out lengthy prison sentences this week, including a suspended death penalty, to five people involved in a clenbuterol-tainted pork scandal, the latest in a series of food safety scares in China.
The five people sentenced were found guilty of “endangering public security by using dangerous means” for their role in feeding clenbuterol, an illegal beta-agonist feed additive, to pigs headed for the food supply. Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co Ltd, China’s leading meat processor, was implicated as one of the primary companies involved in the scandal, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency.
Xinhua reported the sentences ranged from nine years to life because individuals “despite possessing knowledge of the harm of clenbuterol, nevertheless became involved in the production and sale of it.”
Clenbuterol can cause a number of human health side effects including heart palpitations, muscle tremors, nervousness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills and, in rare cases, death. It is increasingly bought and sold under the table for use in livestock feed to accelerate lean muscle growth.
Those involved defended themselves “by pointing out the loopholes in pork processing companies and government supervision,” according to the Chinese report. “They also argued there was no relevant case in which consumers got ill as a result of taking in clenbuterol-tainted meat.”
According to Chinese government data, 18 outbreaks of food-related clenbuterol poisoning occurred between 1998 and 2007. The most recent report indicates one person died and more than 1,700 others fell ill.
Among the sentences: Liu Xiang was given a death penalty, with 2-year reprieve, Xi Zhongjie received a life sentence; Xiao Bing, 15 years in prison; Chen Yuwei, 14 years in prison and Liu Honglin, nine years in prison, according to Xinhua.
