Free Republic

A Utah company is recalling two-pound frozen bags of Quest beef cat food sold nationwide over fears it may be contaminated with salmonella. “Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products,” the US Food and Drug Administration said this week. The items affected were distributed nationwide through retail stores and are identified with UPC 6-91730-17101-8, Lot N128. No illnesses have been reported. A sample collected tested positive for...

The CDC is advising folks in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island to avoid eating whole, fresh papayas from Mexico. They also say not to eat fruit salads or mixes including Mexican papayas. If you encounter papayas and have doubt about their country of origin, the CDC says to be on the safe side and throw them out. The agency recommends washing and sanitizing places where papayas are stored, including counter tops and refrigerator shelves. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration wants importers, suppliers, distributors and other food service providers to halt sales across all states of...

Live poultry in backyard flocks are linked to several multistate outbreaks of salmonella infections that have now sickened 212 people in 44 states, federal health officials warned Monday. The most recent illnesses began on June 21, with 88 of the cases reported in the last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said in an advisory. The federal agency is working with multiple states in investigating several outbreaks of salmonella infections linked to contact with live poultry in backyard flocks, it said. A half-dozen strains of salmonella bacteria have sickened people starting in the middle of February,...

OUTBREAK Update: 100 Salmonella infections in 33 states linked to Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal. Do not eat this cereal.

Just before the agency announced the outbreak, the Kellogg Co. announced a recall of 15.3-ounce and 23-ounce packages of the cereal with a “best if used by” date from June 14, 2018, through June 14, 2019, according to a statement. Twenty-four of the sick patients have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported, according to the CDC. New York has reported the highest number of cases — seven — while California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have each reported five cases. The other states involved in the outbreak have reported between one and four related illnesses. Health officials have identified Kellogg’s Honey...

A farm in Indiana is recalling more than 200 million eggs sold in nine states over salmonella fears. Rose Acre Farms voluntarily recalled 206,749,248 eggs due to potential contamination with Salmonella Braenderup, the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement. At least 22 illnesses have been reported so far, the FDA said Friday. The eggs were sold through retail stores and restaurants. They reached consumers in ...

One of the worst epidemics in human history, a sixteenth-century pestilence that devastated Mexico’s native population, may have been caused by a deadly form of salmonella from Europe, a pair of studies suggest. In one study, researchers say they have recovered DNA of the stomach bacterium from burials in Mexico linked to a 1540s epidemic that killed up to 80% of the country's native inhabitants. The team reports its findings in a preprint posted on the bioRxiv server on 8 February1.

Assistant State Health Officer Dr. Karen Landers told news outlets on Thursday that the Alabama Department of Public Health has suspended the caterer’s permit because of the outbreak at the Saturday wedding, which was attended by about 150 people. Officials did not immediately release specific details about the wedding, the caterer that prepared the meal, or exactly what food caused people to fall ill with salmonella gastroenteritis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Poona after linking the outbreak to imported cucumbers. The CDC reported the outbreak has impacted 732 people from 35 states as of Tuesday. Four deaths have been attributed to the outbreak, according to the CDC. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps that can last four to seven days.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued an order that millions of Americans will likely find impossible to carry out: stop eating raw cookie dough. “Avoid raw or partially cooked eggs or foods containing raw eggs, such as cookie dough,” USDA advised in an email over the weekend. cookie1 Carrying out that simple 15-word recommendation would radically change millions of lives, from families who routinely bake cookies and invite the kids to scoop batter out of the bowl, to people who scarf down pre-packaged cookie dough, to everyone who eats cookie dough found in ice cream. Simply put, it’s not...

If eggs are a staple in your family’s diet and you’d like to keep it that way, now would be a good time to get a few laying hens. Next month, beginning January 1, 2015, the chicken-and-egg production in the United States is in for a big shock. That’s when California’s new regulations on egg-laying hens goes into effect. And the effects of those regs on eggs will be felt nationally, even globally. The incredible, edible, prolate spheroid-shaped poultry product, which has long been one of the most affordable sources of high-quality protein, is certain to become significantly more expensive.In...

More than 50 attendees attending an NAACP gala in Redwood City Saturday evening were sickened by a case of possible food poisoning. At least twelve people were taken to local hospitals and treated for dehydration, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Several others transported themselves to hospitals. Cynthia Adams, 2nd vice president of the Oakland NAACP, told KPIX 5 there may be as 100 people who became ill. The official said that she had to transport half a dozen kids to the hospital, and at least one of them is still hospitalized late Tuesday night.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Nearly a million jars of peanut butter were dumped at a New Mexico landfill this week to expedite the sale of a bankrupt peanut-processing plant that was at the heart of a 2012 salmonella outbreak and nationwide recall. Bankruptcy trustee Clarke Coll said he had no other choice after Costco Wholesale refused to take shipment of the Sunland Inc. product and declined requests to let it be donated to food banks or repackaged or sold to brokers who provide food to institutions like prisons. "We considered all options," Coll said. "They didn't agree." MelindaJoy Pattison, executive...

Zombie Pigeons Invade Moscow MOSCOW–This summer, zombie birds have come to Russia’s capital. In what some might compare to a horror film–or even a sign of the apocalypse–the streets of Moscow have been littered with dead and sick pigeons in the past week. Videos posted on the Internet show pigeons twisting their necks, walking backward in circles or standing completely still with their heads on the ground. Muscovites are calling them “zombie pigeons.” Corpses of those that don’t survive have been spotted across the city. Russia’s chief sanitary official, Gennady Onishchenko, said Friday that veterinarians had concluded the pigeons were...

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) has voluntarily recalled specific lots of dry pet food because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. These lots were distributed in the United States and represent roughly one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of annual production. No Salmonella-related illnesses have been reported to date in association with these product lots. Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products. Healthy...

Beware the little hedgehog, he’s likely to be prickly. So touch him at your peril: He just might make you sickly. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in the past year—from December 2011 to December 2012—at least 20 people have been sickened with human salmonella typhimurium infections linked to hedgehogs purchased from multiple breeders in different states. Four people required hospital treatment, and one person died. Almost half of the victims are children age 10 or younger. …

The recall of peanut butter and other nut products linked to an outbreak of salmonella from a New Mexico food company has now been expanded to include raw and roasted peanuts.

-excerpt- New Mexico-based Sunland Inc. has expanded its recall of peanut butter and almond butter to include cashew butters, tahini and blanched and roasted peanut products. -excerpt- In addition to Trader Joe's, the recall over the past week has included some nut butters and nut products sold at Whole Foods Market, Target, Safeway, Fresh & Easy, Harry and David, Sprouts, Heinen's, Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, Giant Food of Landover, Md., and several other stores. -excerpt- Some of the brand names included in the recall are Target's Archer Farms, Safeway's Open Nature, Earth Balance, Fresh & Easy, Late July, Heinen's,...

The grocery store chain Trader Joe's is recalling peanut butter that has been linked to 29 salmonella illnesses in 18 states.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Fourteen people in at least nine states have been sickened by salmonella after handling tainted dog food from a South Carolina plant that a few years ago produced food contaminated by toxic mold that killed dozens of dogs, federal officials said Friday. At least five people were hospitalized because of the dog food, which was made by Diamond Pet Foods at its plant in Gaston, S.C., the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. No pets were sickened, according to the Meta, Mo.-based company. "People who became ill, the thing that was common among them was...