AquaBounty’s genetically modified (GMO) salmon facing further backlash from national grocery stores and restaurant chains : Costco and Red Lobster Say No to GMO Salmon

    

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Costco and Red Lobster Say No to GMO Salmon

Lorraine Chow | November 25, 2015 9:21 am |

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) controversial approval of AquaBounty’s genetically modified (GMO) salmon has garnered further backlash from national grocery stores and restaurant chains.

Costco, the second largest retailer in the world with 487 stores and one of the largest retailers of salmon and seafood in the U.S., has made a firm commitment not to sell GMO salmon.

“Although the FDA has approved the sale of GM salmon, Costco has not sold and does not intend to sell GM salmon at this time,” the company said in a statement.

Costco’s move to reject GMO salmon comes after vehement opposition from anti-GMO activists.

According to a statement from Friends of the Earth, Walmart and Publix are among the last remaining large retail grocers in the U.S. that have not yet rejected GMO salmon.

“The market is rejecting GMO salmon. Stores won’t sell it and people don’t want to eat it,” said Friends of the Earth Campaigner Dana Perls. “Now other retailers like Walmart and restaurants need to follow suit, and we need mandatory GMO labeling so that consumers know how to avoid GMO salmon.”

More than 60 grocery store chains representing more than 9,000 stores across the U.S. have made commitments to not sell GMO salmon, including Safeway, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Aldi and many others.

The nation’s largest seafood restaurant is also denying GMO salmon. Red Lobster, with 705 North American locations and more than 40 internationally, told the Dallas Morning News that it would not sell GMO salmon last Friday.

Incidentally, consumers might not even know they’re eating GMO salmon. AquaBounty’s salmon, which is genetically altered to grow to market size in half the time of conventional salmon, will not require a GMO label under FDA guidelines.

It’s unclear if we’ll  ever see labels for genetically altered food, period—not just salmon. Currently, the hotly contested Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act—dubbed by opponents as the Denying Americans the Right to Know Act or DARK Act—languishes in the Senate.

The act, H.R. 1599, which passed the House of Representatives in July, bans states from issuing mandatory labeling laws for foods containing GMOs. The bill gives the FDA the authority to establish national standards and regulations for GMO food. The Department of Agriculture would be granted full discretion over the law’s implementation.

 

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Food Safety Report – Tuesday June 12th, 2012

Food Safety

Publisher’s Platform: Non-O157 E. coli – An Alphabet Soup of Illness

by Bill Marler

Opinion

E. coli O157:H7, O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145 – it can get a bit(e) confusing.

As of June 8, 2012, the CDC and various State health Departments report that there are 14 cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O145 infection with indistinguishable DNA patterns that have been identified in lab samples from persons in 6 states: Alabama (2), California (1), Florida (1), Georgia (5), Louisiana (4), Tennessee (1). The dates when those people became ill range from April 15 to May 12, 2012.

Since the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in 1992/1993, the food industry and public health has been focused on that most dangerous bug as an adulterant in ground beef.  However, under recently enacted rules adopted by the USDA’s FSIS, six additional strains of E. coli will be classified as adulterants on par with the better-known E. coli O157:H7, which was often linked to serious illnesses tied to hamburger. The new strains include E. coli O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145.  Hopefully my petition in 2009 helped prompt this movement a little.

According to the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP), these six STEC strains account for 80 percent of non-O157 E. coli illnesses infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates non-O157 E. coli strains cause 112,000 illnesses annually.

Although non-O157 E. colis tended not to be tracked as frequently as their nasty cousin E. coli O157:H7, there have been some reported outbreaks according to my friends at Outbreak Database:

Read Full Article Here

Food Safety Bloopers Volume 1

  By Linda Larsen

Last week I told you about some egregious food safety mistakes made by professionals in the public eye. I read every food magazine published, watch as many food shows as I can, and browse dozens of food blogs. And every week, I see a food safety mistake. And I contact the magazine, network, or blog responsible for the mistake; I almost never hear back from them.

The problem with these mistakes is not just that they show a lack of education about food safety. These errors promote dangerous practices that will increase the number of foodborne illnesses in this country and around the world. Food poisoning already costs the United States $78 billion each and every year. More than 120,000 Americans are hospitalized and 3,000 die from foodborne illness every year.

So we’re starting a new feature today: Food Safety Bloopers. I hope that by publicizing these bloopers we’ll raise awareness among the general public that even if food advice appears in a magazine or on television, that doesn’t mean it’s right.

The July issue of Woman’s Day magazine is the focus today. An article on the best ways to save money on food and other expenses listed advice from “experts”. Consumers were told to save money by buying bruised peaches and nectarines, even though “you can’t eat the bruised part”.

Read Full Article Here

Nutrient Dense Diets Are More Expensive

  By Kathy Will

Research published by the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington and the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health has found that, contrary to a recently released USDA study, nutrient dense diets are more expensive. The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Health.

The study was conducted on a random sample of 2,000 adults in the Seattle Obesity Study. The researchers assessed dietary intakes and converted them into quintiles. The diet cost for each quintile was then calculated using supermarket prices in the Seattle area, choosing the least expensive foods that were rich in the chosen nutrients.

Higher food costs were associated with higher intakes of these nutrients

• Vitamins C, A, E, and B12
• Beta carotene
• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Dietary fiber

These important nutrients were less expensive:

• Calcium
• Vitamin D
• Iron
• Folate

Read Full Article Here

Survey Shines Spotlight on Perceptions About Food Safety

by Cookson Beecher

What you know about food safety and the way you handle and prepare food helps determine how safe you are — or how at risk you are — from coming down with a foodborne illness.

With that in mind, the International Food Information Council Foundation has been tracking food-safety practices that different sectors of the U.S. population say they are following — or not following — since 2006.

Bottom line: It’s all about the health of U.S. consumers.

“Because only safe food can be nutritious food, this research is an important part of the applied research needed to ensure a wholesome food supply for the United States,” says the conclusion of an article about the foundation’s 5-year retrospective, Food and Health Survey, 2006-2010, which appears in the June issue of peer-reviewed Food Protection Trends.

The comprehensive national study was designed to gain insights from Americans on important food-safety, nutrition, and health-related topics. The goal is to provide information that food-safety educators can use to help people stay safe from foodborne illnesses such as E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contaminated food causes 48 million illnesses (1 in 6 people), 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. In addition, the United States documents approximately 1,000 foodborne disease outbreaks each year.

The outbreaks represent an amazing variety of foods. For example, in the period between 2006 and 2010, CDC documented 31 multi-state food outbreaks, among them high-profile outbreaks involving fresh spinach, tomatoes, peanut butter, frozen pot pies, cantaloupes, rice/wheat cereals, pistachios, alfalfa sprouts, beef, shredded lettuce, cheese and shell eggs.

Read Full Article Here

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Recalls

Sienna Bakery Brand Cookies Recalled for Undeclared Walnuts

by News Desk

Best Maid Cookie Company in River Falls, WI, is recalling its Sienna Bakery brand Oatmeal Walnut Raisin and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies due to potential undeclared walnut allergens.

The master cases of these products may contain retail boxes labeled “White Chocolate Macadamia Nut” but contain Oatmeal Walnut Raisin cookies inside.

The product was sold through Gordon Food Service Marketplace and Delivery Services from May 11 through June 7 in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Read Full Article Here

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Articles of Interest

Senate to put bigger fish aside, fry catfish inspection program

By Erik Wasson

The Senate is likely to vote to end a small but controversial catfish inspection program next week, saving $14 million annually and potentially preventing a trade war with Vietnam.

While other major cost-cutting amendments to the 2013 farm bill face an uphill climb — including ones slashing food stamp spending and capping crop insurances subsidies for wealthy farmers — the elimination of the catfish program is expected to draw wide bipartisan support.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced an amendment to the farm bill to do away with the inspections. McCain and other senators, including John Kerry (D-Mass.), argue the program is duplicative and could provoke a trade dispute with Vietnam.

“We are predicting victory on the floor, we clearly have the momentum and should have the votes, too,” a lobbyist supporting the amendment said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is required to set up a catfish inspection program under the 2008 farm bill, and has been dragging its feet in putting the program into place. Normally, UDSA inspects meat and eggs, but leaves fish to the Food and Drug Administration.

The USDA estimates that the new program would cost $14 million a year to run, compared to the $700,000 currently spent by the Food and Drug Administration.

A new Government Accountability Report compiled in May urged Congress to eliminate the program. It argues that FDA will have sufficient powers under new legislation to inspect imported fish properly.

Supporters of the program say imported catfish are a salmonella risk that the FDA’s program does not sufficiently address. Catfish Farmers of America argues that since only 2 percent of fish are actually inspected by FDA, keeping catfish under the agency’s oversight is a threat to public health.

Read Full Article Here

Today: Walmart, Kroger, Primus. Tomorrow: You?

by Dr. David W. K. Acheson

Opinion

Last week, Jensen Farms, the grower of the cantaloupe implicated in the Listeria outbreak of 2011, filed for bankruptcy. Prominently listed in the filing were lawsuits associated with the outbreak, from which 146 people were sickened and 36 died. According to the Denver Post, Jensen’s attorney said the filing should free up millions of dollars in insurance and other funds.

Foodborne illness attorney Bill Marler has filed at least 11 lawsuits and is representing almost 40 families or persons said to have been sickened or killed because of the contaminated cantaloupe. According to an article in Marler-published Food Safety News, the bankruptcy filing means that his clients

“can move on to file lawsuits against companies further down the supply chain: Frontera Produce, the cantaloupe distributor; retailers such as Walmart and Kroger; and Primus Labs, the third-party auditor whose subcontractor, Bio-Food Safety, gave Jensen Farms facilities a ‘superior’ inspection rating just six days before the outbreak began.”

“Bankruptcy of Jensen Farms was a necessary prerequisite to allowing families of those who died and those who were injured to seek compensation against Frontera, Primus, suppliers and retailers,” Marler said.

If Mr. Marler is successful in bringing and winning these cases, it is telling us that someone as distant from the farm as the retailer is highly vulnerable to being sued if a farmer’s product makes someone sick and that farm then declares bankruptcy. If you sell adulterated food – or have some role in handling, distributing, or maybe even transporting anywhere along the food chain of that adulterated food, you would be liable to some extent – regardless of the cause or origination of the contamination.

Read Full Article Here

Food Safety Penalties, Raw Milk Among Senate Farm Bill Amendments

by Helena Bottemiller

Senators have filed more than 80 amendments to the Farm Bill, which the upper chamber is expected to debate this week. The thousand plus page bill — which aims to save taxpayers $23 billion over 10 years — would replace direct payment subsidies to farmers with subsidized crop insurance and a program that pays only if crop income drops below certain levels.

The proposed additions are varied. Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) wants to require an Agricultural Research Service to operate a facility in his state, Sen. Linsey Graham (R-SC) wants to replace the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) with block grants, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), wants the government to study the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on obesity and Sen. McCain (R-AZ) wants to end popcorn and mohair subsidies, just to name a few. But there are also a few that would impact food safety, according to an overview released by the Hagstrom Report (subscription).

Most notably, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is seeking to increase criminal penalties for certain knowing and intentional violations of food standards, likely seeking to attach the Food Safety Accountability Act, a bill he introduced in 2010 and 2011.

Read Full Article Here

Pauls Want Raw Milk Access in Farm Bill & GOP Platform

by Dan Flynn

Congressman Ron Paul, R-TX, and his son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, are giving the country’s raw milk advocates multiple reasons for some hope.

First Rep. Paul, who continues to campaign for the Republican nomination for President, has succeeded in putting the legalization of raw milk into the Texas Republican Party platform.

And, second, Sen. Paul has introduced an amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill to allow direct sale of raw milk and raw milk products across state lines.  Sen. Paul is coming off his success in amending the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) budget to require the agency to consider foreign studies of drugs and supplements.

In his remarks to Texas Republicans, Rep. Paul combined New York City’s proposed ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces and raw milk, saying: “In a free society, you will always be able to buy a big drink with a lot of sugar in it.  You might even be able to drink raw milk.”

Paul’s keynote speech brought down the house, bringing Texans to their feet for a long loud ovation, winning a place for “access to raw milk” in the state GOP platform.  It increases the likelihood of raw milk winning a place in the GOP’s national platform during the Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay, Aug. 27-30.

Here’s the platform language favored by the Texas GOP:

Read Full Article Here

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[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes ‘FAIR USE’ of any such copyrighted material.]

Food Safety Report -Tuesday April 17th, 2012

Food Safety

 

2009 Peanut Butter Outbreak: Three Years On, Still No Resolution for Some

by James Andrews

When Shirley Almer’s grown children describe their mother’s death just days before Christmas Day 2008, they say that the lively 72-year-old grandmother beat cancer twice, but she couldn’t beat peanut butter.

Clifford Tousignant’s family tells a similar story. The decorated Korean War veteran and devoted great grandfather fell ill from Salmonella in his peanut butter sandwiches around the same time. After struggling against the infection for weeks, he died in January 2009 at the age of 78, a year and a half short of his goal to outlive his father.

Almer and Tousignant were two of the nine victims who died in the 2008-2009 Salmonella peanut butter outbreak that sickened at least 714 Americans across 46 states. The outbreak, one of the deadliest and widespread in U.S. history, resulted in recalls of 3,913 different products made by 361 companies. It captured national attention and even attracted commentary from President Barack Obama, who said parents shouldn’t have to worry about their children’s peanut butter, something his daughter Sasha ate for lunch “probably three times a week.”

But more than three years later, many of those affected by the outbreak have yet to find any resolution.

Executives at the company responsible for the outbreak, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), have never been charged with any crimes, though many accuse them of knowingly shipping contaminated peanuts to processors. The company has gone through bankruptcy and lawsuits, but some still say the individuals who called the shots at PCA deserve their day in court.

Food and Drug Administration officials first investigated PCA’s facilities in January 2009 and soon learned that employees had previously been ordered to ship peanuts with samples that tested positive for Salmonella after a second sample tested negative. (Contaminated batches can test negative if there is no Salmonella in the particular section that gets sampled).

According to inspectors, at least 12 samples from the company’s production chain were contaminated between 2007 and 2008, but PCA did little to clean their facilities or remedy the problem. On some occasions, PCA shipped out peanuts before initial test results came back positive for Salmonella.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

 

Chicken Council Denies Request for Access to Plants

by Helena Bottemiller | Apr 16, 2012

The National Chicken Council has denied Food & Water Watch lobbyist Tony Corbo’s request to work in a HACCP Based Inspection Models Project (HIMP) poultry plant to better understand how the new program works.

Corbo recently wrote to NCC asking that the group make arrangements for him to work for a full week as a sorter in a poultry plant participating in HIMP, a pilot project that uses fewer federal inspectors, focuses the remaining inspectors on food safety tasks, and allows plants to operate with faster line speeds.

Food & Water Watch has sharply criticized a proposed rule to expand the pilot, calling the plan a privatization scheme that’s bad for public health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service says the proposal will modernize the inspection system, save taxpayers millions, and prevent 5,200 foodborne illnesses annually.

“Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has repeatedly observed in recent weeks that most consumers do not know how their food is produced in this country. He is correct,” Corbo wrote to NCC. “Therefore, I want to learn first-hand how poultry processed with fewer government inspectors will lead to a safer and more wholesome food supply.”

 

 

Read Full Article Here

 

 

Update on the Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Nakaochi Scrape

April 15, 2012 By Linda Larsen

The CDC has released more details about their investigation into the Salmonella Bareilly outbreak that has sickened 116 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

Nakaochi Scrape, which is tuna scraped from the bone and chopped, from Moon Marine USA Corporation is “the likely source of this outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly infections”, according to the government. The CDC interviewed 53 of the patients about what they ate the week before they got sick. Forty-three of them (81%) reported eating sushi.

This proportion is significantly higher than indicated in a FoodNet Survey conducted by the CDC for the years 2006 to 2007. In that report, on page 20, 5.3% of healthy adults reported consuming sushi in the past seven days.

Of those 43 people, 39, or 91%, reported eating a sushi item made with tuna, and 36, or 84%, reported eating a sushi item containing “spicy tuna”. Spicy tuna rolls are made with chopped tuna or Nakaochi Scrape.

Nakaochi Scrape looks like, and is, raw ground tuna. And when meat is ground or chopped, any bacteria on the surface of the meat is mixed throughout the entire batch. That makes raw fish made with this method, also called comminuted, very different from other types of sushi, in which the flesh is left whole.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

 

Footage of Illegal Slaughterhouse Prompts Arrest

by Gretchen Goetz | Apr 16, 2012

The owner of an illegal slaughter facility in Los Angeles County is behind bars after video footage showed him slitting the throats of two conscious animals before letting them bleed to death.

The clip, released Friday by Mercy for Animals, shows 25-year-old Roberto Celedon picking up a goat by its two right legs, pinning it on its back and cutting its throat with a knife before leaving the twitching animal to die slowly. A sheep then suffers the same fate on camera.

Celedon was arrested for violation of California’s animal cruelty laws. He is also being charged with violating the State’s Food and Agriculture Code, since his operation was unlicensed and failed to meet sanitation standards.

“Not only is this an important animal welfare issue, it’s also a food safety issue,” says Matthew Rice, Director of Operations at Mercy for Animals.

Equally as disturbing as the footage of these animal deaths is the fact that meat from the business was sold for human consumption.

Read Full Article  Here

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Recalls

 

 

Listeria Warning for Sub Sandwiches in Canada

by News Desk | Apr 16, 2012

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Les Aliments Deli Chef of Laval, Quebec are warning the public not to consume certain “Super Loaded Sub” Deli Chef brand sandwiches because the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the sandwiches.

The recalled “Super Loaded Sub” Deli Chef brand sandwiches are sold in a 330 g package bearing the UPC 0 56040 37452 6, an Exp/Best Before date MAY 18 and the Establishment number (EST) 318.

Read Full Article Here

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Dole Recalling Seven Lettuces Salad for Possible Salmonella

April 15, 2012 By Linda Larsen

Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling 756 cases of DOLE® Seven Lettuces Salad for possible Salmonella contamination. No illnesses have been reported in connection with the consumption of this product.

Product details:

• Dole® Seven Lettuces Salad
• UPC code number 71430 01057
• Product codes 0577N089112A and 0577N089112B
• Use-by date of April 11, 2012

 

Read Full Article Here

 

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Allergen Alert

 

Allergen Alert: Milk in Taco Shells

by News Desk | Apr 16, 2012

Mission Foods has recalled its Taco Dinner Kits distributed by Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Hannaford and Food Lion because they may contain milk, an allergen not included on the label.

No adverse reactions have been reported to date in connection with the Taco Dinner Kit products.

People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume products that contain milk.

The recalled products were distributed by retail grocery stores in the following states:

Read Full Article Here

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Articles of Interest

 

 

Magazine Cautions Against 10 ‘Dirtiest’ Foods

by Dan Flynn | Apr 16, 2012

The popular Men’s Health magazine is the latest to weigh in with a list of dangerous foods, along with information on how to increase their safety if you are still inclined to eat them.

The Men’s Health list includes the 10 most often contaminated foods that are likely to be popular with its readers. The magazine claims to have looked at incidents of foodborne illnesses by the various carriers in order to come up with the list of the 10 dirtiest.  The list includes:

– Chicken

– Ground beef

– Ground turkey

– Raw oysters

– Eggs

– Cantaloupe

– Peaches

– Prepackaged lettuce

– Cold cuts

– Scallions

Men’s Magazine reports that 200,000 people are sickened per day, according to official estimates by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

But it says New York University’s Philip Tierno, author of “The Secret Life of Germs” figures the true rate is about 800,000 a day when sickness to every food virus, bacteria and toxin is counted.

This list of dirtiest foods is far from unique.  Various publications and organizations have in recent years come up with their lists of the “most dangerous” foods and ingredients.

 

Read Full Article Here

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[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes ‘FAIR USE’ of any such copyrighted material.]