Hazelnuts...the next PEANUT????

In the last few weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday season, a recall of hazelnuts began. Salmonella was discovered in hazelnuts at the shelling establish that supplied many other businesses with hazelnuts for further packaging and processing. 
In the past year we have seen recalls of peanuts and almonds with similar contamination, but this is the first this year for hazelnuts.
What is happening in the industry?  Did this company only handle hazelnuts? What were daily sanitation procedures that were in place to ensure that the bacteria were killed or not present?
Will bacterial contamination continue to increase in our food products?  What have bactericides done to protect us? Are we producing bacteria that can no longer be killed by normal cleaning?
Was this a recontamination issue? Was this a result of product being brought in or a contamination in place in the facility?
Janzen Farms was the latest to issue a recall notice. Willamette Filbert Growers in Oregon was the first, followed by Kunze Farms, Harry & David, Evonuk, Whole Foods, Burnt Ridge Orchards, Market of Choice, and Mountain Man Nut and Fruit Co.
Hazelnuts are very popular in the Northwestern United States. Willamette Filbert Growers in an organic producer, did this have an effect?
Recalls appear to be more frequent at holiday times. Is this a coincidence? Is it because they are busier and less cleaning is happening? Are they trying to run longer and employees are taking shortcuts?
Could an employee have brought the contaminate in from home, in a lunch, on clothing, on hands? Were proper Good Manufacturing Practices in place?

We always have more questions than answers. 

As always, stay informed and stay safe and enjoy your holidays.

Rudy
rudy@powerinlearning.com

Hold Off on Slim Drinks

Unilever recalled 10 million cans of Slim-Fast ready to drink products throughout North America. Basically, all their drink products were subject to recall. They discovered in testing that the drinks could be contaminated with Bacillus cereus.
How would this occur?  Under-processing? Post processing contamination?

How many days of production was this?

How did their internal quality system and production system fail?

Was their lack of personal control, missing equipment control, lack of procedures, failure to follow standard operating procedures?

It would be interesting to know, so that the rest of industry could avoid this problem. In most food plants and certainly in a company as large as Unilever, there are elaborate food safey systems. How can they fail?  Was the failure human?

Rep. Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut called for Beef Packers in Fresno to be shut down because of a second salmonella recall on ground beef.  The parent company Cargill is using outside inspectors and public health officials to search for the problem.  Up until July, this plant supplied ground meat to schools.

Large retailers and restaurant chains set higher standards for ground meat than the standards set for school beef.  Companies often impose higher standards in order to protect the public and reduce their liability. It only makes common sense.

So how can large companies such as Cargill and Unilever have such problems? Is it based on volume? Have they become so large that it is impossible to control contamination? Can companies work their way from under this load and responsibility?

What responsibility do you take as the consumer?

Remember a couple of basic rules. When you grind meat you spread the bacteria that is on the surface throughout the mixture. The surface area has dramatically increased. Assume that ground meat and poultry contain bacteria. Cook poultry and ground meat thoroughly. Take responsibility to protect your family.

Be safe out there.
Rudy
rudy@powerinlearning.com