Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/series/food-recalls/)
The U.S. government grants safeguard powers to certain agencies in order to protect the country’s food supply. Two of those agencies are the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. While the Food and Drug Administration oversees food safety, tobacco safety, dietary supplement safety and drug safety, the Food Safety and Inspection Service specifically monitors meat, poultry and egg products. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting’s Food Recalls series highlights notable recall announcements from each of these agencies.
When Congress approved a nearly $1 trillion spending bill late last week, it also approved increased funding to federal food-safety programs. Under the new 2015 appropriations bill, two U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies will receive an estimated $40 million in funding.
Authorities this month issued recall alerts affecting hundreds of thousands of pounds of food, including thousands of pounds of chicken contaminated with potentially deadly – and costly – bacteria.
At least eight food products had to be recalled so far this month, federal food-safety agencies reported. Recalled products include tomatoes possibly tainted with Salmonella and bagels potentially covered in glass.
More than a dozen potentially hazardous food products were recalled last month, federal food-safety agencies announced. Overall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced six recalls for the month of August. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, announced at least 11 recalls for food-related products last month.
More than four-dozen people became sick after eating E. coli and Salmonella-contaminated foods last month, federal food-safety agencies announced. The E. coli illnesses trace back to clover sprouts and ground beef, while the Salmonella threat links back to the seed-based chia powder.
Earlier in May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that more than 60 people across 23 states were affected by the most recent outbreak of Salmonella. Testing traced the illnesses to individuals who had contact with chicks, ducklings and other baby poultry from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries in Ohio.
Tyson Foods Inc. recalled more than 75,000 pounds of chicken nuggets in April because pieces of plastic embedded in the chicken were giving consumers oral injuries. Federal work-safety inspectors have also cited Tyson Foods for dangerous working conditions at least three times within the last year.
Problems with a Washington-based company's Salmonella testing records caused USDA officials to recommend expanding an already massive nationwide recall. But the company -- Nutriom LLC, a producer of dehydrated-egg products -- declined to expand the recall. The decision consequently moved food safety officials to issue a public health alert.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that since March 2013 about 480 people across 25 states have become sick from consuming chicken contaminated with an antibiotic-resistant strain of Heidelberg Salmonella. Nearly two out of every five of those people had to be hospitalized.
Earlier this month, the Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that the California-based Rancho Feeding Corporation was recalling about 9 million pounds of "diseased and unsound" meat. At first, the recall only affected consumers in five states. Now, weeks after the recall was first issued, it has been expanded across the country.