by Kelley Lindberg
This week, I have received a couple of automated phone calls letting me know that Kroger’s Value Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips have been recalled due to undeclared milk. These are the chocolate chips I buy at Smith’s grocery stores here in Utah, but the recall is nationwide at all Kroger grocery stores. (If you have any of these chocolate chips with “Best By” dates in 2012, take them back to your grocery store for a refund.)
I got this recall phone call because I use Smith’s Fresh Values loyalty card when I shop, so I guess their database showed I’d purchased this product, and they added me to their auto-call list. I appreciate being notified this way.
This got me thinking about recall notices. It’s not always easy to find out about recalled food products, and for people with food allergies, it is critical to know about mislabeled products, contaminated manufacturing runs, and the like.
So how can you make sure you’re getting the news you need about recalls? I know of three ways that can help:
1. Use your grocery store’s loyalty card when you shop. Not only do you get discounts, you might get notified when something you bought is recalled.
2. Sign up for FAAN’s alerts. FAAN (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network) is a leading organization for food allergy awareness, education, and advocacy, and many food manufacturers will let FAAN know when they’re recalling a food product. FAAN then sends alerts out to anyone who’s signed up for those alerts. You don’t have to be a member to get the free alerts. Go to FAAN’s main web page at http://www.foodallergy.org/, and under the red section called “Alerts & News,” click on either “Subscribe to Alerts Feed” or “Receive Alerts by e-mail” depending on whether you want to get the notices via RSS feed or by email. It’s quick and easy, and you’ll get notices promptly. Many of the notices might not affect you, but the ones that do are worth the occasional extra email.
3. Finally, join an email listserv like UFAN (Utah Food Allergy Network), where members keep each other up-to-date on any news they’ve heard. To join UFAN’s email forum, go to their main website (http://www.utahfoodallergy.org/) and go to the section called “Join the Utah Food Allergy Network Forum,” click the link, and follow the instructions.
If anyone knows of any additional ways to keep up-to-date with food recalls, I’d love for you to share your suggestions in the Comments.
Let’s make sure 2011 is a safe and healthy year!
Showing posts with label recalls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recalls. Show all posts
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, February 2, 2009
Peanut Butter Recall
Q: When is being allergic to food a good thing?
A: When that food is involved in a nationwide recall because it’s contaminated with salmonella.
Two years ago, in February of 2007, peanut butter made in the ConAgra Foods Inc. plant in Georgia was found to be contaminated with salmonella, and hundreds of people fell ill from it. Now, here it is February again, two years later, and another bout of peanut butter salmonella has cropped up, this time from peanut butter and peanut paste processed by Peanut Corp. of America in Georgia. Again, hundreds of people are falling ill – as of January 28, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s web site, 529 people from 43 states and one person in Canada have been reported infected, and “the infection might have contributed to eight deaths.”
Originally, the FDA thought the salmonella was only in peanut butter sold to institutions such as hospitals or nursing homes. But now they’ve realized it could be in any number of products that use peanut paste, from cooking sauces to baked goods, and even pet foods. The list of recalled products is up to 180 products now. (Click here for the CDC’s recall list.)
Silver linings are great, aren’t they? There isn’t often a silver lining to having a food allergy. But right now, there are probably about a million American families that are breathing a collective sigh of relief because this is one food problem they DON’T have to worry about. What a nice change of pace!
We’re always told to count our blessings. But sometimes we forget that blessings come in many disguises, and from the least likely of sources. But right now, I’m counting my son’s peanut allergy as a blessing. I didn’t have to worry about the food I put in his school lunch this morning. I don’t have to worry that my family will become deathly ill from a contaminated box of rocky road ice cream tonight. And I don’t have to spend this afternoon scouring my pantry shelves for the 180 products that have been recalled. I got rid of everything peanut-related 9 years ago. That means I can spend today doing something else, like taxes.
Um…Wait, did I say that was a blessing?
A: When that food is involved in a nationwide recall because it’s contaminated with salmonella.
Two years ago, in February of 2007, peanut butter made in the ConAgra Foods Inc. plant in Georgia was found to be contaminated with salmonella, and hundreds of people fell ill from it. Now, here it is February again, two years later, and another bout of peanut butter salmonella has cropped up, this time from peanut butter and peanut paste processed by Peanut Corp. of America in Georgia. Again, hundreds of people are falling ill – as of January 28, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s web site, 529 people from 43 states and one person in Canada have been reported infected, and “the infection might have contributed to eight deaths.”
Originally, the FDA thought the salmonella was only in peanut butter sold to institutions such as hospitals or nursing homes. But now they’ve realized it could be in any number of products that use peanut paste, from cooking sauces to baked goods, and even pet foods. The list of recalled products is up to 180 products now. (Click here for the CDC’s recall list.)
Silver linings are great, aren’t they? There isn’t often a silver lining to having a food allergy. But right now, there are probably about a million American families that are breathing a collective sigh of relief because this is one food problem they DON’T have to worry about. What a nice change of pace!
We’re always told to count our blessings. But sometimes we forget that blessings come in many disguises, and from the least likely of sources. But right now, I’m counting my son’s peanut allergy as a blessing. I didn’t have to worry about the food I put in his school lunch this morning. I don’t have to worry that my family will become deathly ill from a contaminated box of rocky road ice cream tonight. And I don’t have to spend this afternoon scouring my pantry shelves for the 180 products that have been recalled. I got rid of everything peanut-related 9 years ago. That means I can spend today doing something else, like taxes.
Um…Wait, did I say that was a blessing?
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