Archive for the 'Food Safety' Category
October 15th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
The FDA has once again found melamine in two milk products made in China. Sold in Asian grocery stores in New York, the products YILI Brand Sour Milk Drink and YILI Brand Pure Milk Drink have been recalled by distributor HUA XIA Food Trade USA of Flushing, N.Y. The drinks are packaged in 250-ml flexible paperboard boxes. The Sour Milk Drink container has blue, red, and green Chinese writing and a picture of an Asian man in a green shirt and white tie clapping his hands. The Pure Milk Drink has black, red, and white English and Chinese writing, with a picture of two cows playing basketball.
Certain Mr. Brown instant coffee and tea products sold in the United States have also been recently recalled because of possible contamination with melamine. Melamine contamination of infant formula has resulted in a major public health problem in China, where thousands of children have been diagnosed with kidney stones related to the contamination. The FDA has said that it has not yet found infant formula in the U.S. contaminated with melamine.
The FDA lists all products which have been recalled due to detection of melamine.
via FDA, October 2008
via MedPage Today, October 2008
September 29th, 2008 by Chris Thompson
Energy drinks can contain as much caffeine as two six-packs of Coke, according to a recent study out of Johns Hopkins. Unlike soda, such as Coke or Pepsi, energy drinks are sold as dietary supplements and aren’t required to limit the amount of caffeine the way traditional sodas are. Although soda manufacturers aren’t required to disclose on the label the amount of caffeine in their products, they are restricted by the FDA to 71mg of caffeine per 12 ounces. Some energy drinks have been found to have as much as 500 mg of caffeine, and are not required to reveal this on the label.
This is legal in the United States because energy drinks fall into the category of dietary supplements. Interestingly, an over-the-counter stimulant medication, which falls into a different category, containing 100 mg of caffeine per tablet must include warnings on the label.
The public is not only unaware of the amount of caffeine in these products but also the consequences of caffeine intoxication, according to the researchers. The symptoms of caffeine toxicity include nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, GI upset, tremors, tachycardia, and psychomotor agitation. At least 42 cases have been reported to US poison control centers as a result of energy drinks between 2002 and 2004, but more recently energy drinks are growing in popularity and the incidence of caffeine toxicity is on the rise. Further, these drinks are heavily marketed towards young males, many of whom do not have the tolerance to caffeine that many adults have.
Another danger of high-caffeine energy drinks is that combining caffeine and alcohol can be a problem. One study, for example, found that Red Bull mixed with vodka reduced the participants’ perception of motor coordination compared with vodka alone.
via MedPageToday, Sept 25, 2008
September 29th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Seven instant coffee and tea products are being recalled because of possible contamination with melamine, according to the FDA. The products were manufactured in China, and sold in the United States.
All sold under the “Mr. Brown” label, the coffee and tea products have been marketed in the U.S. by King Car Food Industrial and were made by Shandong Duqing, a Chinese manufacturer. The recalled products include:
- Mr. Brown Mandheling Blend Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
- Mr. Brown Arabica Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
- Mr. Brown Blue Mountain Blend Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
- Mr. Brown Caramel Macchiato Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
- Mr. Brown French Vanilla Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
- Mr. Brown Mandheling Blend Instant Coffee (2-in-1Mr. Brown Milk Tea (3-in-1)
White Rabbit Creamy Candies, were also found to be contaminated by Melamine by the New Zealand Food Safety Agency recently. The FDA has said it was recommending that “consumers not eat White Rabbit Creamy Candy and that retailers and foodservice operations remove the product from sale or service.”
Thousands of Chinese children have developed kidney stones related to recent Melamine contamination in infant formula. As of September 25, 2008, the FDA has not yet found any milk-based products imported into the United States from China contaminated with Melamine. The investigation is ongoing, however, and has focused on areas with large Chinese communities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York.
via MedPage Today, Sept. 26, 2008
via FDA, September 26, 2008
September 12th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
The FDA has issued a Health Information Advisory regarding contaminated infant formula manufactured in China. Melamine is the contaminant which can cause kidney disease. It has been reported that a number of Chinese infants who have consumed formula, contaminated with melamine and manufactured in China, are suffering from kidney stones. This is a rare condition in infants.
According to the FDA, “Currently, no Chinese manufacturers of infant formula have fulfilled the requirements to sell this product in the United States. However, FDA officials are investigating whether or not infant formula manufactured in China is being sold in specialty markets which serve the Asian community. Caregivers should not feed infant formula manufactured in China to infants and should replace any product from China with an appropriate infant formula manufactured in the United States. Individuals should contact their health care professional if they have questions regarding their infant’s health or if they note changes in their infant’s health status.”
To learn more, read the 2008 MedWatch Safety Summary, including a link to the FDA Health Information Advisory
July 29th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Update: July 29, 2008: To date, 1307 persons have been infected with Salmonella Saintpaul. Jalapeño peppers are likely to be the major cause of this outbreak, but fresh serrano peppers and fresh tomatoes remain under investigation. An FDA laboratory detected Salmonella Saintpaul with the outbreak strain fingerprint pattern in a sample of jalapeño pepper obtained from a distribution center in McAllen, Texas. The peppers were grown in Mexico, but it is not yet clear exactly where they were contaminated. The distributor is working with the FDA to recall the contaminated product in the United States.
July 21, 2008: The FDA has found Salmonella saintpaul on a single jalapeno pepper in a small produce distribution plant, Agricola Zaragosa, in McCallum, Texas. The pepper was contaminated with the same strain of the organism that caused the outbreak that infected more than 1,200 people since May. The plant has issued a recall on its peppers, which were shipped to Georgia and Texas.
Although this is a potential breakthrough in the investigation, FDA officials caution that this still does not tell the whole story or rule out tomatoes as the possible source of the outbreak. The FDA will continue its investigation as new cases continue to be reported. There have been 14 new cases of Salmonella saintpaul since Friday, bringing the total number of infections to 1,251.
via MedPage Today, July 21, 2008
Continue reading ‘Update: Salmonella on vegetables’
