Tag: cross-contamination

Cross-contamination fears extend from parsley-cilantro recall

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Holiday greetings from a salmonella culture

A Texas distributor has expanded a recall already involving thousands of cases of produce over fears of salmonella cross-contamination in its processing facility…

The “precautionary, voluntary recall” pertains to cilantro and parsley packed between November 30 and December 6, the Edinburg, Texas-based company said in a statement. The produce…processed and branded as Little Bear between those dates can be taken to retailers for a full refund.

The company is also recalling 19 other types of produce that were run on the same packing lines, because the salmonella may have spread to those products as well.

“It’s imperative to protect public health, even if that means being overzealous in expanding the scope of the products we’re calling back,” said James Bassetti, president of J&D Produce. “We will work closely with regulators, health officials and our customers in bringing back the products.”

No one has reported getting sick from eating the vegetables, according to J&D Produce…

The company’s products are sold retail as well as to wholesalers, who may then distribute them to restaurants and other establishments, according to Sharon McNerney, a public relations consultant for the company…

In addition to cilantro and parsley, the Texas company gathers, packs and distributes a variety of fruits and vegetables such as carrots, limes, eggplants, peppers, greens, onions, melons, mangoes and asparagus, according to its website.

You can find a listing of the recalled produce over here at the company’s website.

Sensible folks work at getting people to eat more veggies. It’s painful to provide another excuse for those who would copout on decent nutrition.

Dealing with risky food-safety behavior In commercial kitchens

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How safe is the food we get from restaurants, cafeterias and other food-service providers? A new study from North Carolina State University — the first study to place video cameras in commercial kitchens to see how precisely food handlers followed food-safety guidelines –  discovered that risky practices can happen more often than previously thought.

“Meals prepared outside the home have been implicated in up to 70 percent of food poisoning outbreaks, making them a vital focus area for food safety professionals,” says Dr. Ben Chapman… “We set out to see how closely food handlers were complying with food safety guidance, so that we can determine how effective training efforts are…”

“We found a lot more risky practices in some areas than we expected,” Chapman says. For example, most previous studies relied on inspection results and self-reporting by food handlers to estimate instances of “cross-contamination” and found that cross-contamination was relatively infrequent. But Chapman’s study found approximately one cross-contamination event per food handler per hour…

Cross-contamination occurs when pathogens, such as Salmonella, are transferred from a raw or contaminated source to food that is ready to eat. For example, using a knife to cut raw chicken and then using the same knife to slice a sandwich in half. Cross-contamination can also result from direct contact, such as raw meat dripping onto vegetables that are to be used in a salad…

Cross-contamination has the potential to lead to foodborne illnesses and has in recent outbreaks” Chapman says. “And it’s important to note that the food-service providers we surveyed in this study reflected the best practices in the industry for training their staff…

“This study shows us that each food handler is operating as part of a system,” Chapman says, “and the food-safety culture of the overall organization – the kitchen and the management – needs to be addressed in order to effect change.

Not to wax too philosophical; but, the study addresses essential questions at the root of most social discourse starting with the industrial revolution. Alienated individuals who are socialized by the workplace, set aside from the completion of normal work processes by the “efficiencies” of specialized tasks.

If you can lead people into an understanding, a reasonable feeling of being part of a real team – perhaps you can overcome the inattention and carelessness resulting from alienation.

Please don’t expect that to be easy.