Food Poisoning Law Blog : Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : PritzkerLaw : Food Safety, Outbreaks & Recalls

Yamaya USA Inc. of Torrance Calif. is recalling 2-pound plastic containers of Masago (Capelin Roe) because of potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.

The packages have a white label with both Japanese and English writing and bear the mark: “Item No. 09867.” They were distributed to retail stores in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Atlanta and Mexico.

Masago, which is orange-red in color, is a common sushi ingredient often used as a garnish. No illnesses have been reported in association with this recall.

Listeria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. It can also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Healthy individuals who contract listeriosis may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
 

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Alberstons grocery company was one of the retailers that stocked Rocky Ford cantaloupes from Jensen Farms which have been associated with the multi-state Listeria outbreak that has stricken more than 120 people in 26 states.

Albertsons, which operates 450 stores in nine states throughout the Northwest and West Coast, is a division of Minneapolis-based SUPERVALU. In response to the Jensen Farms recall on September 14, Albertsons pulled all cantaloupe grown in Colorado from its store shelves. Since that time, the cantaloupe at its stores is from other growing regions that are not subject to this recall. However, the incubation period for listeriosis can take up to 70 days, so it’s possible that customers may have purchased and eaten tainted melons before the recall was announced but will not show signs of illness until mid-November.

State and federal health officials urge anyone who believes they have become ill from eating a contaminated melon to seek medical advice. Those with legal questions regarding this outbreak should contact the Listeria experts at PritzkerOlsen P.A., a nationally recognized food safety law firm practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation.

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After the cantaloupe Listeria outbreak took on the grim mantle of “deadliest U.S. foodborne illness outbreak in more than a decade” this week, a Costco official told the New York Times that cantaloupe growers and shippers need better food safety practices.

“I don’t think the cantaloupe industry can continue on doing the very same thing and expecting a different result,” Craig Wilson, head of food safety for Costco, a Seattle-based warehouse retailer, told the New York Times. “It’s time for companies to get more aggressive. If they know this is going to happen, let’s step up and not let it happen.”

Costco would consider setting standards for how melons are grown, cleaned and handled, and requiring suppliers to demonstrate that melons are pathogen-free, he said in the story. He said the cantaloupe industry needs to be responsible for creating better food safety practices.

Stephen F. Patricio, a melon shipper and the chairman of the trade group California Cantaloupe Advisory Board, agreed saying sales of  California-grown cantaloupe have fallen even though melons from Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo. are the source of the outbreak.

California cantaloupes have never been the source of a foodborne illness outbreak, the trade group’s website claims. Still, Patricio says in the story, California growers suffer every time lax practices by other growers cause an outbreak. “The entire melon category needs to look at the best practices and research that’s been done by the California industry and others to best analyze their own risks,” Patricio told the New York Times. “Or we’re all going to continue to suffer.”

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California, Minnesota, Colorado,  Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Nevada and Wisconsin are among at least 18 states where eggs potentially contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis have been sold.

The California egg recall now includes retail brands and foodservice packages sold in southern California and Las Vegas by Moark LLC of Fontana. These retail brands are Albertsons, Yucaipa Valley, Farmer’s Gems and Mountain Dairy.

The 24,300 dozen eggs involved in the latest California egg recall were purchased from Hillandale Farms of Iowa, where there have been laboratory-confirmed Salmonella Enteriditis illnesses linked to shell eggs. Moark repackaged the eggs and sold them to retailers and wholesalers. 

To date, as many as 60 people in Los Angeles County have been confirmed to have the Salmonella strain associated with the recalled eggs. Statewide, California Salmonella egg cases exceed 200, health officials have said.

 Healthy people infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis or reactive arthritis, also known as Reiter's syndrome.

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Salmonella enteritidis, an egg-associated bacterium, can be undetectable by sight or smell. The Salmonella enteritidis can be present in ordinary-looking eggs. If contaminated eggs are eaten raw, or even undercooked, the bacterium can cause illness.
 

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