Recall Roundup: March 29, 2011

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Here is today's list of food safety recalls, product withdrawals, allergy alerts and miscellaneous compliance issues. The live links will take you directly to the official recall notices and company news releases that contain detailed information for each recall and alert.

United States

• Food Safety Recall (Update): USDA posts updated retail distribution list for E. coli O157:H7-contaminated Seltzer's Beef Lebanon Bologna, recalled by Palmyra Bologna Company on March 22nd. The recalled Lebanon Bologna has been linked to 14 cases of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses reported in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina.


• Food Safety Recall: NAC Foods Corporation (Palisades Park, NJ) recalls Mi Pepito Arnica Flower (UPC 707425900334, item number #508, net weight .25 oz) and Stem Arnica (UPC 707425900655, item number #630, net weight .5 oz) due to inaccurate use information on the product label. The recalled products were distributed to retail outlets in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.


• Dietary Supplement Safety Recall: USA Far Ocean Group Inc. (Alhambra, CA) recalls X-Hero and Male Enhancer supplements after FDA lab analysis finds sulfosildenafil (an analog of sildenafil) in a sample of X-Hero and viagra cialis online pharmacy pharmacy in a sample of Male Enhancer. Sildenafil and tadalafil are the active ingredients in prescription-only drugs approved for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.


• FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns U Joo Foods, d.b.a. UJU Foods (Chicago, IL) that a November/December 2010 inspection of the company's facility revealed insanitary conditions that caused the soybean and mung bean sprouts manufactured, processed, and stored in the facility to be adulterated within the meaning of the US Food and Drugs Act. These conditions included instances of rodent and insect activity in the facility, and improper storage and transport temperature control for the finished sprouts.


• FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Shemshad Foods Products, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA) that a September 2010 inspection of the company's manufacturing facility revealed serious violations of the Acidified Food regulations, the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulation for food, the labeling provisions of Section 403 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), and the provisions of Section 505 of the Act that address the marketing of new drugs.


• FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns P.T. Indomaguro Tunas Unggul (North jakarta, Indonesia) that an October 2010 inspection of the company's seafood processing facility revealed deviations from the Seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Regulation.

Canada

• Allergy Alert: UNFI Canada Inc. recalls Chocolate Chip Organic Food Bar (Lot 03121610) due to the presence of undeclared milk. The recalled bars were sold in retail stores in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec.


• Allergy Alert: UNFI Caanda Grocery West recalls Chocolate Coconut Raw Organic Food Bar (Lot 08102710) and Fibre Chocolate Delite Raw Organic Food Bar (Lot 01092010) due to the presence of undeclared milk. The recalled bars were sold in retail stores in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.


• Allergy Alert: Ecomax Nutrition recalls Active Greens Chocolate Organic Food Bar (Lot 03120710), and Chocolate Chip Organic Food Bar (Lot 03121610 and 01012611), due to the presence of undeclared milk. The recalled bars were sold in retail stores in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.


• Allergy Alert: Satau Inc. recalls Chocolate Coconut Raw Organic Food Bar (Lot 08102710), Fibre Chocolate Delite Raw Organic Food Bar (Lot 01092010) and Chocolate Chip Organic Food Bar (Lot 03121610), due to the presence of undeclared milk. The recalled bars were sold in retail stores in Ontario and Quebec.

Europe

• Allergy Alert (Denmark): A/S Cervera recalls Pickled Ginger in jars, 290g (Lot #31-03-2012; Product of China) due to the presence of high levels of undeclared sulfur dioxide.


• Food Withdrawal: Asia Square withdraws Tandoori Masala - Barbeque Ground Spice (Lot #L9279; produced by TRS Wholesale Co., England), due to the presence of the colorants tartrazine and ponceau 4R at levels that significantly exceed the permitted limit.


• Counterfeit Product Alert: The Food Standards Agency alerts consumers that counterfeit wines labelled as Jacob's Creek wines are being offered for sale in the Greater London area. Consumers are advised that the label on the back of each counterfeit bottle includes a spelling mistake – below the text ‘SOUTH EASTERN AUSTRALIA’ appears some smaller text, ‘WINE OF AUSTRLIA’, where the word ‘Australia’ is missing an ‘a’.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

• Food Safety Enforcement Action (Abu Dhabi): Following a major incident of food poisoning at Al Jaber Group's labor camp in the Western Region, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) closed down an unlicensed catering unit at the camp which was functioning in squalid conditions. the catering unit in question was supplying food to about 2200 workers without ADFCA's license and certificate. Food was not being supplied only to the company's workers, but also to workers from other companies that had contract with Al Jaber Group. According to an article in the Khaleej Times, more than 230 workers at the camp contracted food poisoning; 44 were admitted to hospital for treatment.

Australia and New Zealand

• Allergy Alert (Australia and New Zealand): Lindt and Sprüngli (Australia) Pty Ltd. recall Lindor Milk Egg Chocolate, 16g (Imported from USA; various packaging formats; Best before 30 JUN 11), because some of the product may contain undeclared peanuts. The recalled confectionery products were sold across Australia, primary through supermarkets and department stores such as Kmart, Target, Big W, Woolworths, Coles, David Jones, Myer and Priceline, and were also shipped to New Zealand.

Some supermarket chains post recall notices on their web sites for the convenience of customers. To see whether a recalled food was carried by your favorite supermarket, follow the live link to the supermarket's recall web site.

• A&P


• Big Y® World Class Market®


• BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.


• Bloom


• Brookshire's


• Costco Wholesale Corporation (US stores)


• Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd.


• EDEKA (Germany)


• Food City


• Food Lion


• Giant Food LLC


• Gros Cidac (Italy)


• Hannaford Brothers Co.


• Harris Teeter


• H-E-B


• The Kroger Company*


• Lucky Supermarkets


• Price Chopper


• Publix


• Raley's


• Roundy's Supermarkets, Inc.


• Sainsbury's


• ShopRite


• Stop & Shop


• Sweetbay Supermarkets


• Target


• Top Food & Drug


• Tops Friendly Markets


• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.


• Wegmans


• Whole Foods Market


• WinCo Foods


• Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.

*The Kroger umbrella encompasses numerous supermarket, marketplace and convenience store chains, listed on the Kroger corporate home page.

Ancient tablets reveal Babylonian math skills

An exhibit of 13 ancient Babylonian online pharmacy in New York has revealed that highly sophisticated mathematical practice flourished in Babylonia nearly 1,000 years prior to the Greek sages Thales and Pythagoras, with whom mathematics is said to have begun.



The exhibition-Before Pythagoras: The Culture of Old Babylonian Mathematics-opened at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, reports Artdaily.org.



The tablets in the exhibition, at once beautiful and enlightening, date from the Old Babylonian Period (ca. 1900-1700 BCE).



They have been assembled from three important collections: the Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University; the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; and the Yale Babylonian Collection, Yale University.



Jennifer Chi, of ISAW's exhibitions and public programs, stated, "By demonstrating the richness and sophistication of ancient Mesopotamian mathematics, Before Pythagoras adds an important dimension to the public knowledge of the history of historic cultures and attainments of present-day Iraq."



Alexander Jones of ISAW noted, "The evidence we have for Old Babylonian mathematics is amazing not only in its abundance, but also in its range, from basic arithmetic to really challenging problems and investigations. And since the documents are the actual manuscripts of the scribes, not copies selected and edited by later generations, we feel as if we were looking over their shoulders as they work; we can even see them getting confused and making mistakes."



The tablets in Before Pythagoras, inscribed in cuneiform script, cover the full spectrum of mathematical activity, from arithmetical tables copied by scribes-in-training to sophisticated work on topics that today would be classified as number theory and algebra.



In so doing, they illuminated three major themes: arithmetic exploiting a notation of numbers based entirely on two basic symbols; the scribal schools of Nippur, which was the most prestigious center of scribal education; and advanced mathematical training.

_________________

References:



New Kerala. 2010. "Ancient tablets reveal Babylonian math skills". New Kerala. Posted: December 19, 2010. Available online: http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-108257.html

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Immigrants, Refugees, and Medical Ethics

After I wrote yesterday's post about refugees and asylum seekers in the British National Health Service, I read a remarkable article in the New York Times about Luis Alberto Jimenez.

Eight years ago, Mr. Jimenez, an illegal immigrant working as a gardener in Florida, was hit by a drunk driver, resulting in severe traumatic brain injury. Martin Memorial order cialis provided care. Given that no insurance coverage was available, Martin was unable to find a rehabilitation placement for Mr. Jimenez. They kept him in the acute cialis, accumulating a bill of $1.5 million. In the midst of litigation about returning him to Guatemala, which his U.S. guardian was resisting, the hospital hired an air ambulance and flew him back.

While accurate figures aren't available, hospital initiated deportations are not uncommon. Advocates for Mr. Jimenez accuse Martin Hospital of "dumping," but it is hard to see how an individual hospital can be expected to provide open-ended financing in circumstances like that of Mr. Jimenez.

An article in this month's Bulletin of the World Health Organization puts Mr. Jimenez's situation into a global context. 200 million or more people are living outside of their country of birth. Access to health care and the question of who will pay is a problem everywhere.

What we're seeing now is the way ethical problems roll downhill when wider societies choose to ignore them. In the U.K., GPs are asked to violate their most fundamental ethical commitments by refusing to treat undocumented immigrants. In Florida, Martin Hospital is asked to finance Mr. Jimenez's care in an open-ended way. Neither request is ethically justifiable.

The U.S., U.K., and every country that receives legal and illegal immigrants need to address the issues openly. International organizations like the WHO are crucial for helping to establish shared expectations and a broad ethical framework. The rehabilitation hospital in Guatemala that Mr. Jimenez was initially transferred to has an annual budget of $400,000, but appeared to provide excellent care. Rather than saddle Martin Hospital with a $1.5 million bill for inappropriate acute care, all parties would have been better served by a U.S.-Guatamala plan for augmenting services in Guatemala.

GP resistance to making them the agents for a National Health Service problem helps to push the complex ethical issues up to where they belong. In the hospital sphere, the American Hospital Association should do the same, so that hospitals like Martin are not forced to choose between financial ruin and spiriting patients out of the country in James Bond fashion.