FSnet July 19/07
WASHINGTON, D.C.: FDA warns consumers about risk of
Botulism poisoning from hot dog chili sauce marketed
under a variety of brand names
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Bush meets with the
import safety working group
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Safety of imports gets high
priority
UK:
Cockle bed re-opens after E. coli scare
U.K.:
Ex-Mud singer's death after food poisoning
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WASHINGTON, D.C.: FDA warns consumers about risk of
Botulism poisoning from hot dog chili sauce marketed
under a variety of brand names
18.jul.07
Food and Drug Administration
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is
warning consumers not to eat 10 ounce cans of
Castleberry’s Hot Dog Chili Sauce (UPC 3030000101),
Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce (UPC 3030099533), and
Kroger Hot Dog Chili Sauce (UPC 1111083942) with
“best by” dates from April 30, 2009 through May 22,
2009 due to possible botulism contamination.
Botulism can be fatal. The “best by dates” can be
found on the can lids.
Consumers who have any of these products or any
foods made with these products should throw them
away immediately. If the “best by” date is missing
or unreadable consumers should throw the product
out.
Two children in Texas and an Indiana couple who ate
these products became seriously ill and have been
hospitalized.
Symptoms of botulism poisoning can begin from 6
hours to 2 weeks after eating food that contains the
toxin. Symptoms may include double vision, blurred
vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty
swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness that
moves progressively down the body, affecting the
shoulders first then descending to the upper arms,
lower arms, thighs, calves, etc. Botulism poisoning
can also cause paralysis of the breathing muscles
which can result in death unless assistance with
breathing (mechanical ventilation) is provided.
Individuals who show these symptoms and who may have
recently eaten Castleberry’s Hot Dog Chili Sauce,
Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce, or Kroger Hot Dog Chili
Sauce should seek immediate medical attention.
All of the above products are manufactured by the
Castleberry Food Company in Augusta, Georgia.
Castleberry has informed FDA that it is voluntarily
recalling all of the potentially contaminated
products and is cooperating with FDA, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the
states’ active investigations into the cause of this
contamination and scope of the products’
distribution.
FDA will provide updates as more information becomes
available. Consumers can call the FDA at
1-888-SAFEFOOD.
Castleberry recommends consumers with any questions
or concerns about this recall should contact Jamie
Leicht of Fleishman Hillard at (858) 735-9135.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Bush meets with the
import safety working group
18.jul.07
Office of the Press Secretary
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070718-6.html
THE PRESIDENT: The American people expect their
government to work tirelessly to make sure consumer
products are safe. And that is precisely what my
administration is doing.
I've called together key members of my Cabinet to
review the procedures in place, the regulations in
place, the practices in place to make sure that our
food supply remains the safest in the world. The
world is changing, and in order to make sure that we
can continue to have the confidence of our
consumers, that we will continually review practices
and procedures to assure the American consumer.
President George W. Bush gestures as he speaks to
members of the media Wednesday, July 18, 2007 in the
Roosevelt Room at the White House, following a
meeting with the Import Safety working group, where
President Bush announced an updated review of the
food safety regulations and inspection procedures
will be conducted to ensure the nation's food supply
remains the safest in the world. White House photo
by Eric Draper And so I've asked Mike Leavitt, the
Secretary of HHS, to lead a task group that will
report back to me in 60 days on a strategy that will
review procedures in place and regulations in place
to make sure that they're meeting the needs of a
changing world; that part of our strategy is we work
with our countries from which we import goods to
make sure that their procedures and practices will
give us comfort. And, finally, we'll be working with
companies that import goods from around the world,
to make sure that their practices meet the high
standards that we set for the United States.
This is a serious issue -- food safety and consumer
safety is a serious issue. We take it seriously and
we spend a lot of time on it in this administration.
So Michael, I want to thank you very much for taking
on this task force. It's important for the American
people to know their government is on top of the
situation and constantly reviewing procedures and
practices. So thank you.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Safety of imports gets high
priority
18.jul.07
USA Today
David Jackson and Elizabeth Weise
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-18-import-safety_N.htm
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has given a new
Cabinet-level committee a very short timeline — just
60 days — to develop plans to guarantee the safety
of food and products imported into the USA.
The story says that the Interagency Working Group on
Import Safety was established and met for the first
time Wednesday.
The announcement comes a day after the head of the
FDA told Congress that the agency needed what could
be a "painful" overhaul to be ready for the 21st
century. The FDA oversees 80% of the food supply but
got only one-third of the $1.3 billion the FDA and
the USDA spent on food safety in fiscal 2006. FDA
inspects less than 1% of a growing volume of
imported foods.
Congressional investigators said at Tuesday's
hearing that they had found instances of importers
bringing seafood into the USA via Las Vegas to avoid
the scrutiny it would get at seaports and
mislabeling suspect goods to escape FDA computers'
detection.
Imports make up only an estimated 13% of the foods
Americans eat. The nation has had homegrown
food-safety problems in the past year, in spinach,
lettuce and peanut butter made in the USA.
While it may be "psychologically comforting to blame
others," what the U.S. needs is farm-to-fork food
safety, said Douglas Powell, director of the
International Food Safety Network at Kansas State
University. "Imports are a problem. So is food
produced in the U.S. One should not distract from
another."
Caroline Smith DeWaal, food-safety director at the
Center for Science in the Public Interest, was cited
as saying the Bush administration has tended to
institute guidelines rather than regulations for
food safety, such as good agricultural practices and
anti-terrorism advice, and that the panel might take
the same path instead of recommending needed
congressional action.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said Bush should move
forward with actions rather than another study. "We
know what the difficulties are here," she said. "We
have to act on it, not set up another committee."
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he likes the idea of
the working group but wonders whether they will
recommend enough money to make needed changes. The
group's mission statement says it should identify
actions "within existing resources."
UK:
Cockle bed re-opens after E. coli scare
18.jul.07
Wirral Globe
http://www.thisiswirral.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1551038.mostviewed.cockle_bed_reopens_after_e_coli_scare.php
A shellfish bed near Angle Village in Pembrokeshire
has, according to this story, reopened after it was
temporarily closed two weeks ago after a sample of
shellfish was found to contain a high e.coli level.
Subsequent samples taken by port health officers
have given the cockle bed the all-clear and it has
reopened for harvesting.
The story explains that under EU food hygiene
legislation, Pembrokeshire County Council has a duty
to monitor the microbiological standards of certain
types of shellfish in areas designated for their
production for human consumption.
U.K.:
Ex-Mud singer's death after food poisoning
19.jul.07
icSouthLondon.co.uk
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200southlondonheadlines/tm_headline=ex-mud-singer-s-death-after-food-poisoning&method=full&objectid=19475444&siteid=50100-name_page.html
An inquest was told that Martin Wingfield, 58, a
former front man of 70s glam rock band Mud and a
father of 10, died after being admitted to Lewisham
Hospital suffering from food poisoning. Hewas rushed
to hospital with severe diarrhoea and vomiting days
after the marriage of his daughter Kim Sharratt, 26.
Mr Wingfield, an electrical engineer, of Mount
Pleasant Road, Lewisham, was so ill his kidneys were
failing. Fearing a perforated bowel, surgeons at the
hospital operated. But the campylobacter bug was
very advanced and he developed blood poisoning and
MRSA, dying in hospital a month after surgery.
The story says that Southwark Coroner's Court was
packed on Friday, with family and friends of Mr
Wingfield, who are convinced he should not have died
from such a common complaint.
His daughter Kelly Ann Wingfield was quoted as
telling the court, "It seemed unreal that someone
could go into hospital for food poisoning and not
come out again."
They claim the surgery made his illness worse not
better.
Consultant colorectal surgeon David Birch was cited
as saying the infection was already so well advanced
that going under the knife was the only option,
adding, "He had a two- to three-month history of
alternating constipation and diarrhoea and a history
of worsening abdominal distension following a
wedding. sBlood tests showed that his kidneys
weren't working and an x-ray showed a large dilation
of his colon. He really wasn't in a very good
condition at all."
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