Posted on 07/23/2007 8:18:49 PM PDT by varina davis
FDA says food recall is urgent health threat Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:49PM EDT By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A recall of canned meat products and dog food made at a Georgia plant due to botulism fears could involve tens of millions of cans that pose an urgent public health threat, U.S. officials said on Monday.
U.S. food regulators appealed to consumers and retailers to find and dispose of the cans.
Two people in Texas and two others in Indiana remain seriously ill and hospitalized with botulism poisoning associated with eating Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce, officials said.
"This is a very big recall," David Elder of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's office of regulatory affairs told reporters, deeming it an "urgent public health matter."
"These products can hurt people. And they have to be off the store shelves. And consumers have to discard any that they have at home," Elder added.
U.S. officials said an outbreak of botulism due to a commercially canned food is extremely rare and has not occurred in the United States in more than three decades.
Castleberry's Food Co. said on Saturday it had voluntarily expanded a recall of hot dog chili sauce and canned meat products originally announced on July 18 due to a risk of botulinum toxin, a bacterium that can cause botulism.
Castleberry's is a unit of Connors Bros. Income Fund's Bumble Bee Foods division.
The recall by Castleberry's originally affected 10 products. The expanded move involves more than 80 types of stew, chili, hash and other products as well as pet food sold under a variety of brand names.
"You're talking about tens of millions of cans that may have been involved. That doesn't mean that's how many are still out on shelves. But that's sort of the scale," added Robert Bracket, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
TRACING SHIPMENTS
U.S. regulators are trying to track down distribution records from the company, Bracket said, adding that officials view this as a nationwide recall.
Botulism is a potentially fatal illness. Symptoms include dizziness, double vision, difficulty in breathing and abdominal problems.
The cans that sickened the four people were produced at the plant on May 7 and May 8, officials said.
Connors Bros. said it will keep the plant in Augusta, Georgia, closed until given the all-clear by health officials.
"Production will not resume until FDA is satisfied that all conditions that resulted in this recall and these dangerous products have been corrected," Elder said, adding that the FDA last inspected the plant in February.
Officials said 16 out of 17 cans that have been tested have turned up positive for the bacterium that causes botulism.
"The decision was made to add an additional layer of protection and to assure the highest margin of safety by recalling all products produced on this line, regardless of the best-by date on the can," said Dave Melbourne, Castleberry's senior vice president.
Consumers with any questions are urged to view Castleberry's Web site www.castleberrys.com. A toll-free hotline is also available at 1-800-203-4412 or 1-888-203-8446.
Good grief...thank goodness I don’t eat that kinda of stuff...
Darn! Does that include Brunswick stew?
The link you provided http://www.reuters.com
does not go to the article. Please provide a working link to the article. Thanks.
The website is hosed... gave up after waiting nearly five minutes looking at a red screen.
The Castleberry site, not Reuters I mean...
Why would a company respond to botulism fears by making meat products and dog food?
Shield, thank you for helping us out here by providing a working link to the published article.
Yes, thank you Shield. I was called away and didn’t get the admin. message.
Probably for the same reason the company would make "Chinese Take Out with Sauce with Vegetables and Chicken Dog Food" (from the FDA list of products recalled).
Chinese take out made with chicken dog food sounds yucky. At least it said "dog food" not "dog".
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_033_2007_expanded/index.asp
Self ping
If we ever see a cholera outbreak, whips will come down hard.
Someone should send a can to Expertox and have it checked for tainted Chinese contaminents. Something tells me this many cans could not be from two days of manufacturing.
This might be a Chinese contamination problem but of course FDA, et al is not willing to admit this as it would really casue a panic that the government doesn’t want right now after the contaminated dog food FIASCO!
This is a quote from the Foxnews.com story:
“Typically, commercially canned foods are heated long enough and to high enough temperatures to kill the spores. Melbourne confirmed that the botulism occurred in the chili sauce because the product was undercooked”
“The current tests only indicate botulism toxin for the chili products, but because other products were also canned using the same equipment, we expanded the recall to include all brands that were canned on the same line,” Melbourne said.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290507,00.html
Thanks, wanted to check my cabinets just to be sure... don’t buy any of those, so ok. I do buy some canned roast beef for my special burritos, but a different brand. Think I bought some Castleberrys brand on sale a while back, but didn’t like its as much.
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