Two of the salads impacted by a series of recalls linked to a Cyclospora outbreak. FDA
A Cyclospora outbreak linked to bagged lettuce has sickened 206 people in eight Midwestern states and sent 23 to the hospital, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday. No one has died.
<p>The outbreak has led to several <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/food-recall" target="_self">recalls</a> of salads made at a Fresh Express production facility in Streamwood, Illinois that were sold at major retailers Walmart, Hy-Vee, Aldi and Jewel-Osco, <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2020/06/27/salad-recall-2020-walmart-aldi-fresh-express-cyclospora-outbreak/3269765001/" target="_blank">USA TODAY reported</a>.</p><p>"[O]bviously there was some breakdown in the quality chain," Rutgers University <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> microbiologist Donald W. Schaffner told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/us/salad-recall-cyclospora-cdc.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. He said the size and spread of the outbreak suggested "some rather significant sanitary breakdown in the production of this food."</p>
<div id="fb281" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7aa537d7cd54a0b7e4daab92fd873ca6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1277355504633810949" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">FOOD RECALL: Fresh Express recalled products with iceberg lettuce, carrots, and red cabbage due to Cyclospora. Prod… https://t.co/mi3qsBhvXz</div> — CDC (@CDC)<a href="https://twitter.com/CDCgov/statuses/1277355504633810949">1593380259.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The parasite <em>Cyclospora cayetanensis </em>causes an infection called cyclosporiasis when humans eat or drink contaminated food or water, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/cyclosporiasis/index.html" target="_blank">CDC</a>. The main <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/cyclosporiasis/gen_info/faqs.html#what_cyclo" target="_blank">symptom</a> is watery diarrhea, but it can also cause stomach cramping, appetite loss and fatigue. It can last from a few days to longer than a month and is typically treated with antibiotics.</p><p>The first major foodborne cyclosporiasis outbreak was in the mid-1990s, Schaffner told The New York Times, and no one knows exactly what caused it. The current outbreak marks the third year in a row that there has been an outbreak of the illness during the warmer months.</p>
<p>"It's likely due to the quality of the water used to irrigate the produce, and it probably has something to do with human fecal contamination of that water, but of course there's a whole lot of unknowns," Schaffner said. "Very often with these fresh produce outbreaks, we never learn the definitive cause."</p><p>Illnesses from the current outbreak have been reported in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wisconsin between May 11 and June 17, the CDC said. So far, the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation has uncovered a Fresh Express bagged salad mix containing iceberg lettuce, carrots and red cabbage as the likely culprit.</p>
<p>The outbreak has already prompted a number of recalls.</p><p>1. Brand: Marketside brand Classic Iceberg Salad</p><p>Store: Walmart</p><p>States: Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin</p><p>Bag Size: 12 to 24 ounces</p><p>Use By: 05/19/2020 through 07/04/2020</p><p>2. Brand: Little Salad Bar brand Garden Salad</p><p>Store: ALDI</p><p>States: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin</p><p>Bag Size: 12 ounces</p><p>Use By: 05/01/2020 through 06/29/2020</p><p>3. Brand: Hy-Vee brand Garden Salad</p><p>Store: Hy-Vee</p><p>States: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin</p><p>Bag Size: 12 ounces</p><p>Use By: All dates</p><p>4. Brand: Jewel-Osco Signature Farms brand Garden Salad</p><p>Store: Jewel-Osco</p><p>States: Illinois, Indiana and Iowa</p><p>Bag Size: 12 ounces</p><p>Use By: 05/16/2020 through 07/04/2020</p>
<div id="4fec0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7fb2bfad3993ac3a4aa894438ec0d3ba"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1276534588588908545" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Jewel-Osco Voluntarily Recalls Bagged Signature Farms Garden Salad Due to Possible Cyclospora Contamination… https://t.co/nqaUR2DeXr</div> — U.S. FDA Recalls (@U.S. FDA Recalls)<a href="https://twitter.com/FDArecalls/statuses/1276534588588908545">1593184537.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Then, on Saturday, Fresh Express <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fresh-express-issues-a-precautionary-recall-of-products-containing-iceberg-red-cabbage-and-carrots-produced-at-its-streamwood-il-facility-due-to-a-potential-cyclospora-risk-301084706.html" target="_blank">issued</a> a voluntary recall of all the salads made at its Streamwood facility that contain iceberg lettuce, red cabbage or carrots. The recall only impacts salads with a "Z" at the beginning of the Product Code in the upper-right-hand corner of the front of the package. The recalled salads have a Product Code of Z178 or lower.</p><p>"Our immediate thoughts and concern are for those consumers who have become ill due to the outbreak," Fresh Express said in a statement Saturday reported by USA Today. "Out of an abundance of caution, we have issued a voluntary recall of both branded and private label salad products that were produced at the Streamwood facility and contain those ingredients."</p><p>The Fresh Express recall came after the FDA began an investigation of the Streamwood plant and raised concerns that some products not already recalled might be impacted, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-cyclospora-bagged-salads-june-2020" target="_blank">according to the FDA</a>.</p><p>"Consumers should not eat, and restaurants and retailers should not sell or serve any Fresh Express products currently on the market that were made in the Streamwood, Illinois, production facility and contain either iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, or carrots," the agency recommended.</p>
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Ground beef on sale at Walmart, one of the stores impacted by a nationwide recall, in Marietta, Georgia on Jan. 16, 2013. Photo courtesy of the city of Marietta
New Jersey-based Lakeside Refrigerated Services is recalling nearly 43,000 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli.
<p>The beef was sold at Walmart, among other grocery stores, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ground-beef-recalled-from-walmart-grocers-e-coli-2020-6" target="_blank">Business Insider reported</a>. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2020/recall-012-2020-release" target="_blank">announced</a> the recall Saturday. It comes as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic has raised <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/meat-shortages-coronavirus-slaughterhouses-2645861788.html" target="_self">concerns</a> about the national <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat" target="_self">meat</a> supply and sickened <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> safety inspection workers.</p><p>"FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers' refrigerators or freezers," the agency wrote. "Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase."</p>
<div id="acd07" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a4b2fa2ea9af06ce67e981e336398160"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1271974488339603458" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Recall: Lakeside Refrigerated Services Recalls Beef Products due to Possible E.coli O157:H7 Contamination https://t.co/NkQ9MiBqjC</div> — USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service (@USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service)<a href="https://twitter.com/USDAFoodSafety/statuses/1271974488339603458">1592097324.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The recalled beef was produced June 1 and has an establishment number of "EST. 46841." Approximately 42,922 pounds of beef were affected. Impacted brands include Marketside Butcher and Thomas Farms, and the products were shipped to grocery stores across the country including Walmart.</p><p>"As soon as we were notified by Thomas Foods of the recall, we immediately began the process of alerting our stores and distribution centers to remove the affected product from our store shelves and inventory, including a sales restriction," the retail chain said in a statement reported by Business Insider. "Customers who have purchased the items identified in the recall should dispose of the product and return to their nearest Walmart for a full refund."</p>
<p>FSIS provided a detailed list of the recalled products:</p><p>1-lb. vacuum packages containing "MARKETSIDE BUTCHER ORGANIC GRASS-FED GROUND BEEF" and a use or freeze by date of 07/01/20 and lot code P53298-82.</p><p>1-lb. vacuum packages containing four ¼ lb. pieces of "MARKETSIDE BUTCHER ORGANIC GRASS-FED GROUND BEEF PATTIES" and a use or freeze by date of 06/27/20 and lot code P53934-28.</p><p>3-lb. vacuum packages containing three 1 lb. pieces of "MARKETSIDE BUTCHER ORGANIC GRASS-FED GROUND BEEF 93% LEAN / 7% FAT" and a use or freeze by date of 07/01/20 and lot code P53929-70.</p><p>1-lb. tray packages containing four ¼ lb. pieces of "THOMAS FARMS GRASS-FED GROUND BEEF PATTIES 85% LEAN / 15% FAT" and a use or freeze by date of 06/25/20 and lot code P53944-10.</p><p>4-lb. tray packages containing 10 ¼ lb. pieces of "THOMAS FARMS GRASS-FED GROUND BEEF PATTIES 80% LEAN / 20% FAT" and a use or freeze by date of 06/25/20 and lot code P53937-45.</p><p>1-lb. vacuum packages containing four ¼ lb. pieces of "THOMAS FARMS GRASS-FED GROUND BEEF PATTIES 85% LEAN / 15% FAT" and a use or freeze by date of 06/27/20 and lot code P53935-25.</p><p>1-lb. vacuum packages containing "VALUE PACK FRESH GROUND BEEF 76% LEAN / 24% FAT" and a use or freeze by date of 07/01/20 and lot code P53930-18.</p>
<p>The potential contamination was discovered during a routine FSIS inspection and there have been no confirmed cases of anyone falling ill from eating the product.</p><p>Most people infected with E. coli O157:H7, the particular strain identified, fall ill two to eight days after eating contaminated food. Symptoms include dehydration, bloody diarrhea and stomach cramps. Most people recover within a week, but some can develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a kind of kidney failure signposted by bruising, decreased urination and pallor. Children under five and older adults are especially at risk.</p><p>"Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately," FSIS advised.</p>
<p>The recall comes as the coronavirus has added new safety concerns for the U.S. meat industry. Crowded working conditions have led to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tyson-pork-plant-closes-coronavirus-2646123888.html" target="_self">several outbreaks</a> at U.S. meatpacking plants. As of mid-May, almost half of the virus hotspots in the U.S. were linked to such plants, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/15/us-coronavirus-meat-packing-plants-food" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. The virus has killed at least 30 plant workers and more than 10,000 have been sickened or exposed. The risk has also spread to food safety inspectors. As of May 15, four had died and almost 300 had taken time off work due to illness or potential exposure.</p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
How Proper Crop Protection Ensures Global Food Safety and Helps the Planet
11 June
Insights + Opinion
In recent decades, a wide variety of crop protection products have provided farmers with a set of carefully tailored tools for the production of safe and healthy crops. SBDIGIT / Getty Images
By J. Erik Fyrwald
World Food Safety Day earlier this week reminded us of a harsh reality: Roughly 600 million people around the world suffer from food-borne illnesses, while an estimated 3 million die from illnesses contracted from unsafe food or water.
<p>This annual toll touches every part of the world, though the worst impacts are felt in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where there is less access to refrigeration and other modern food-preservation technologies. While major improvements have been achieved in some regions since the 1980s, the problem is still vast and urgent.</p><p>Dangers in food supply can occur at any stage of the farm-to-fork process. Many of these relate to food preparation, and every cook must take all available precautions to maintain a clean, safe kitchen. Less well known is what can be done to ensure food safety earlier in the process, beginning on the farms where it is produced.</p>
Agronomists Have an Outsized Role to Play
<p>In recent decades, thanks to successful research and development in the field of agronomy, a wide variety of crop protection products have provided farmers with a set of carefully tailored tools for the production of safe and healthy crops.</p><p>For example, <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusarium" target="_blank">Fusarium</a></em> is a common fungus that can produce deadly mycotoxins in wheat, corn and barley. Recently developed broad-spectrum fungicides are now being used to prevent the spread in these crops. These agents play an active role in protecting the health of consumers and avoiding waste in having to destroy the infected grains.</p><p>In the past, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides have themselves sometimes been viewed as threats to the safety of food and water.</p><p>But innovation in crop protection products has come a long way since Rachel Carson pointed out the risk they posed in her seminal 1962 book <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring" target="_blank">Silent Spring</a></em>. Today's crop protection agents are developed with both human health and the environment firmly in view.</p><p>Over the course of the last 60 years, these agents have become more targeted and more effective and they are applied much more sparingly. Since the 1950s, the agronomy sector has achieved a remarkable 95% decrease in the average application rate of active ingredients per hectare. At the same time, multiple innovations have led to crop yields from farmland more than tripling. These measures to make everyone's food safer have been reinforced with the <a href="http://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/en/" target="_blank">Codex Alimentarius</a>, the open, transparent system of international standards established in 1963 to protect consumer health and promote fair practice in the food trade.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM4Njk3OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjM2ODg2N30.Wigk1wmc9InvTYnqXGnDW7HagR0FawTu5XgtIoWFowk/img.png?width=980" id="f275d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="39c3647487932b7e6e87918a22c28d5c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Crop-protection has been used more sparingly over recent decades. Source: Phillips McDougall, 2017
A Deep Respect for Health and the Environment
<p>As it happens, more than a few of today's crop protection products are obtained from natural sources or are so thoroughly tested by time that they are considered traditional practices. This means they are commonly found in use on farms that specialize in growing organic produce.</p><p>Those of us working in the field of agricultural science are well aware these advances are not always appreciated by people who wish insecticides and fungicides were not a part of the global food system. Viewed in a certain light, I agree with them. But I have seen first-hand the destruction wrought by pests and the impact of a failed crop on farmers and their families. The devastation inflicted by swarms of locusts this year in Africa and Asia is just one case in point.</p>Addressing the Challenge of Climate Change
<p>The need for effective crop protection products has steadily grown as rising global temperatures have expanded the range of many pests and blights. Just last summer in the Netherlands, a farmer told me he was seeing an insect in his fields he had never seen before.</p><p>Our team researched it and found the pest was well known in Brazil – <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuta_absoluta" target="_blank">Tuta absoluta</a></em> is a miner fly whose larvae make corridors in the leaves by eating the cells – and becoming a problem in northern climates as a result of warmer winters. One of our goals as an industry is to provide farmers with the safest and best means of keeping threats like these at bay.</p><p>When viewed at macroscopic scale, advances in agronomy clearly represent an important part of the solution to climate change. The latest crop protection products address climate change directly – by enabling farmers to produce more food per unit of land than ever before in the history of agriculture. This is critical if we hope to bring a halt to the expansion of human activity into regions such as the Amazon rainforest – a precious natural resource that serves a higher common purpose as a carbon sink and biodiversity preserve than as a cornfield.</p><p>Progress has been made on crop protection solutions that help feed humanity safely while protecting the environment, but we should all take a moment on this World Food Safety Day to strengthen our resolve. Even in the face of a global pandemic and myriad other challenges – we must keep moving forward in our efforts to safeguard people and the planet.</p>
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A Tyson plant in Wallula, Washington that has also seen a coronavirus outbreak. David Ryder / Getty Images
A Tyson Foods pork plant in Storm Lake, Iowa announced it would close Thursday after more than 20 percent of its workforce tested positive for the new coronavirus.
<p>The closure comes about a month after President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-orders-meat-plants-open-coronavirus-2645870365.html" target="_self">issued an executive order</a> for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat" target="_self">meat</a> processing plants to stay open despite virus outbreaks at several slaughterhouses. Those outbreaks led to the closure of around 20 plants in April, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-meatpacking/tyson-foods-will-shut-us-pork-plant-as-more-workers-catch-covid-19-idUKKBN23434R" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>Tyson Foods announced the closure late Thursday, hours after the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) had confirmed 555 coronavirus cases at the plant out of a workforce of 2,517, the <a href="https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/28/coronavirus-outbreak-confirmed-tyson-foods-storm-lake-pork-processing-plant-kim-reynolds/5274618002/" target="_blank">Des Moines Register reported</a>.</p>
<div id="3910f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6549fd2dd2cb8add3af93c9edac813da"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1266044429732888576" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is out of 2,517 tested, equalling 22% of the workforce at Tyson Pork so far.</div> — The Storm Lake Times (@The Storm Lake Times)<a href="https://twitter.com/SLTimes/statuses/1266044429732888576">1590683488.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"I honestly feel like the company has failed its employees," Storm Lake League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa Vice President Mayra Lopez told the Des Moines Register. "With 555 cases confirmed, that seems pretty steep."</p><p>Lopez, who has friends and family among the plant's many minority workers, said that she had heard of employees waiting up to a week for coronavirus test results.</p><p>"By the time they get the results, it could be too late and they've passed it on to someone else," she said.</p><p>Tyson Foods said that the closure was due to a delay in testing results and the absence of employees due to quarantine. It said it would stop slaughtering and finish all processing over the next two days.</p><p>"Additional deep cleaning and sanitizing of the entire facility will be conducted before resuming operations later next week," the company said in a press release reported by the Des Moines Register.</p>
<p>The incident has added to concerns about employee safety in meatpacking plants forced to remain open despite the fact that crowded working conditions make social distancing difficult. Tyson said it implemented wide scale testing at the Storm Lake plant and required employees to wear masks, but the <a href="http://www.ufcw.org/" target="_blank">United Food and Commercial Workers International Union</a> (UFCW) said that meat companies and the Trump administration could do more to protect workers, Reuters reported. More than 3,000 U.S. meatpacking workers have tested positive for COVID-19 and 44 have died, the union said.</p><p>"Too many workers are being sent back into meatpacking plants without adequate protections in place, reigniting more outbreaks in the plants and our communities," Nick Nemec, a South Dakota farmer who is part of an advocacy group that works with UFCW, told Reuters.</p><p>Previously, coronavirus outbreaks had forced Tyson Foods to shutter plants in Waterloo, Columbus Junction, and Perry, Iowa, as well as in Dakota City, Nebraska; Logansport, Indiana; and Pasco, Washington, according to the Des Moines Register. However, most of those plants have since reopened, <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/resilience/natural-disasters/500016-555-workers-at-tyson-foods-facility-in-iowa" target="_blank">The Hill reported</a>.</p>
<p>In April, Tyson Chairman John Tyson <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/meat-shortages-coronavirus-slaughterhouses-2645861788.html" target="_self">warned</a> that "the food supply chain is breaking." The warning preceded Trump's executive order by two days.</p><p>However, a recent <a href="https://foodandwaterwatch.org/" target="_blank">Food and Water Watch</a> <a href="https://foodandwaterwatch.org/news/USDA-spent-memorial-day-weekend-distorting-meat-production" target="_blank">report</a> has cast doubt on industry claims of shortages. It found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that cold storage of beef, pork, chicken and turkey was up 2.1 percent in April 2020 compared with April 2019. Further, meat exports have been on the rise in May.</p><p>At the same time, plants have persisted in switching to the New Swine Inspection System, which allows fewer inspectors and faster slaughter speeds. Plants that have switched to this system have seen increased coronavirus cases. One such plant in Guymon, Oklahoma reported 440 cases, the most in the state.</p>
<div id="d73f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0d3bbf61d6982ac74705a73c51f9c22d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1265764789948764161" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The USDA's warning of an impending meat shortage was false.
"Claims of impending food shortages are hogwash — meat… https://t.co/1aCs8HtVNM</div> — Food & Water Watch (@Food & Water Watch)<a href="https://twitter.com/foodandwater/statuses/1265764789948764161">1590616817.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"The USDA itself is showing that industry claims of impending food shortages are hogwash — meat exports are actually increasing and cold storage stockpiles of meat are growing. Meanwhile, the numbers of workers in deregulated plants are proving for us the importance of meat slaughter line speed caps and federal meat inspection," senior government affairs representative for Food & Water Action Tony Corbo said in a statement. "USDA should take a long, hard look in the mirror and reverse course immediately by forcing industry to cap line speeds, follow federal inspection guidelines, mandate worker safety protocols, and keep plants closed as long as necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19."</p>
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USDA Is Removing Safeguards on Food While Everyone Else Is Fighting a Pandemic
19 April
Insights + Opinion
Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call / Getty Images
By Tony Corbo
As the world focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on public health, the Trump Administration has been busy behind the scenes doubling down on its campaign to deregulate Big Ag. At the same time, it is not providing safeguards to food production workers and government inspectors who are being made to work on the frontlines without frontline employee protections.
The USDA Is Playing Fast and Loose With Meat Inspection Lines During the Coronavirus Outbreak
<p>USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is deregulating inspection in some of the largest pork processing facilities by reducing the number of inspectors assigned to the slaughter line. They turn over critical inspection tasks to untrained company employees, and remove the cap on how fast the line can run. FSIS anticipates that 40 hog slaughter facilities will convert to this method, which is being called the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS). Those 40 facilities process over 92% of all pork in the U.S. Some of the big names in pork processing are pushing for this, such as JBS, Tyson, Smithfield, Clemens, and Quality Pork Processors. In one plant that has been experimenting with the new system, FSIS inspectors have 2.6 seconds to determine whether the company employees have performed their tasks properly. As a consequence, it is not uncommon for hog carcasses to be contaminated with feces, hair, toe nails, and bile to be greenlit for processing into bacon, pork chops, hot dogs, sausage, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/inspectors-warn-unsafe-pork-could-make-its-way-consumers-under-n1097676" target="_blank">and other pork products</a>.</p><p>Three lawsuits to challenge NSIS have been filed by unions representing the plant workers, animal welfare groups, and food safety advocates, including Food & Water Watch and the Center for Food Safety. FSIS hid critical information from the public when it first proposed the frighteningly minimal system. Food & Water Watch was forced to file separate litigation to obtain crucial, undisclosed information which revealed that NSIS would lead to more contaminated pork entering commerce and could lead to an animal disease — to <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/new-data-shows-new-swine-inspection-system-so-dangerous-it-could-spur-another-zoonotic-pandemic" target="_blank">ravage hog herds and/or be transmitted to humans</a>. Plants that wanted to convert to NSIS had until March 30, 2020 to state their intentions. FSIS still refuses to disclose the names of those plants, leaving consumers in the dark.</p>Meat Companies Are Being Given Almost Full Control Over Their Own Inspection Standards
<p>While it is struggling to keep poultry plants properly staffed with inspectors during the pandemic, FSIS has stepped up its approvals of regulatory waivers to chicken slaughter plants that want to increase their maximum line speeds from 140 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute. In the first two weeks of April, FSIS approved 11 such waivers for plants operated by Foster Farms, Tyson Foods (4 plants), and Wayne Farms (6 plants). These plants have all converted to the so-called New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) in which the number of government inspectors assigned to the slaughter line is reduced and many of their tasks are turned over to company employees. Under traditional inspection, each FSIS inspector is assigned 35 birds per minute to inspect. Under NPIS, there is only one FSIS inspector stationed at the end of the slaughter line. When a plant is granted a line speed waiver, that sole FSIS inspector is expected to examine 3 birds every second — or 175 birds per minute. The waiver process that FSIS uses is done in secret; it is not open to public scrutiny until the FSIS reveals that it has granted the waiver. Since taking office, the Trump USDA has approved 28 new waivers under this process, <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/188bf583-45c9-4837-9205-37e0eb1ba243/waiver_table.pdf?MOD=AJPERES" target="_blank">mostly to the big players in the poultry industry.</a></p><p>Inviting everyone to the new game, FSIS is recruiting cattle slaughter plants to deregulate inspection, too. In late March, <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/usda-prioritizes-privatizing-beef-slaughter-inspection-over-food-safety-during-pandemic" target="_blank">FSIS approved a waiver</a> through its secret process for a Tyson beef plant in Holcomb, Kansas that slaughters up to 6000 head of cattle per day. The waiver is designed to reduce the number of government inspectors assigned to its slaughter line, increasing its line speed. FSIS has not revealed how fast the line will run with this waiver or how many fewer government inspectors will be on the slaughter line, but we know it won't result in safety for consumers.</p>Meat Inspection Deregulation Threatens Food Safety
<p>All of these deregulatory moves are designed to increase production; they are not being done to improve food safety. They will contribute to expanding the industrial agriculture model by promoting the growth of factory farms. It's even more disconcerting that it is occurring in the middle of a national crisis.</p><p>As the Trump Administration has stepped on the accelerator to deregulate in recent weeks, there are numerous examples around the country of meat and poultry plants being impacted by the spread of the COVID-19 virus. While the news has been focused on urban areas racked by the pandemic, hot spots have also emerged in rural communities in Colorado, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska where meatpacking plant workers have contracted the virus while being forced to work, forcing some plants to curtail or cease operations temporarily. </p><p>In those instances where meatpackers have insisted on continuing with business-as-usual even when their employees have gotten sick, it has pitted public health officials against company officials and <a href="https://www.keloland.com/video/sioux-falls-mayor-tenhaken-describes-call-with-leaders-of-smithfield-as-heated-as-covid-19-case-numbers-go-up/4572959/#" target="_blank">even USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue</a>.</p><p>Plant workers and even government inspectors who work at these plants have not been given adequate personal protective equipment. It is virtually impossible to practice social distancing in these plants because plant workers and government inspectors work side-by-side in slaughter and processing facilities. When workers protested these conditions, Vice President Mike Pence had the audacity to urge the workers to continue "to show up and do [their] jobs."</p>Urge Officials to Take Action Against Increased Line Speeds
<p>Increased line speeds only create more opportunities for contamination and sickness. It's unnecessary and it's putting our health at risk.</p><p><a href="https://secure.foodandwaterwatch.org/act/demand-congress-stop-allowing-usda-food-safety-waivers?ms=fwws_wb_04162020_usda-removing-safeguards&oms=fwws_wb_04162020_usda-removing-safeguards" target="_blank">Tell Congress</a> to stop allowing USDA food safety waivers. This is no time to gamble with Americans' health.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Meat processing workers are particularly vulnerable to infection because they stand very close to each other. Russ Schleipman / The Image Bank / Getty Images
Meat processing plants across the U.S. and Canada are being forced to close as employees sicken with the new coronavirus, raising concerns both for the meat supply chain and worker safety at the often crowded plants.
<p>One of the biggest closures to date was Sunday's indefinite shuttering of a Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that is responsible for around five percent of the U.S. daily pork supply, as <a href="https://apnews.com/d855667c811d3d9810883e05702288ad" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. Its closure came after almost 300 of its 3,700 workers tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.</p>
<p>"The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply," Smithfield President and CEO Kenneth M. Sullivan said in a <a href="https://www.smithfieldfoods.com/press-room/company-news/smithfield-foods-to-close-sioux-falls-sd-plant-indefinitely-amid-covid-19" target="_blank">statement announcing the closure</a>. "It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running."</p><p>Other plants have shut their doors, at least temporarily, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-meat-factbox-idUSKCN21V09W?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR23YBAAkfyTWSUZyzc45e_qL2mfi0wQkuTwxng9iPRcQ6nBwhXx0h2KjRk" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. They include:</p><ol><li>A JBS USA plant in Greeley, Colorado that is responsible for five percent of the U.S. daily <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/beef" target="_self">beef</a> slaughter, which said Monday it would close until April 24.</li><li>A Tyson Foods hog slaughterhouse in Columbus Junction, Iowa that said Monday it would extend an April 6 closure for another week.</li><li>A National Beef Packing Co. plant in Tama, Iowa that suspended cattle slaughtering until the week of April 20.</li><li>An Olymel pork plant in Yamachiche, Quebec, that closed for two weeks starting March 29.</li><li>A Maple Leaf Foods poultry plant in Brampton, Ontario that suspended production April 8.</li></ol>
<p>Overall, hundreds of workers have fallen ill at plants in Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and other locations, according to The Associated Press.</p><p>Meat processing workers are particularly vulnerable to infection because they stand very close to each other on assembly lines and share crowded locker rooms, leading some food safety and worker advocates to criticize companies and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for not doing more earlier to prevent the spread of the virus.</p><p>"Social distancing is impossible in meatpacking plants," senior government affairs representative for <a href="https://www.foodandwateraction.org/" target="_blank">Food & Water Action</a> Tony Corbo said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "The plants are incubators for spreading COVID-19 and neither the plant owners nor the USDA has provided adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers and inspectors to use while on the job. Workers and inspectors at these plants must be immediately tested for COVID-19 and then immediately provided PPE and hazardous duty pay. We must treat these people who are critical to ensuring the safety of our food supply like the frontline workers that they are."</p><p>Food & Water Action said the Smithfield plant should have been closed weeks ago. But, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/meatpacking-giant-closes-south-dakota-plant-indefinitely-after-almost-300-employees-test-positive-1497498?fbclid=IwAR3tfVExjShIWwZ9MLmeaM-NH0DvmojWMz6vJJHyqCXpScDEchRMFxR3LpQ" target="_blank">as Newsweek reported</a>, it only closed following a letter from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul Ten Haken Saturday, asking the plant to close for 14 days. When it was sent, 238 of the states's 626 cases were among Smithfield employees.</p>
<div id="ce145" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bcde490888c61a454bf191cde6d60c48"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1248659003061788679" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨 The announcement from South Dakota officials makes the Sioux Falls Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant the #4 hots… https://t.co/0Ekj35oy44</div> — Michael Geheren (@Michael Geheren)<a href="https://twitter.com/mgeheren/statuses/1248659003061788679">1586538479.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"This is your moment to take swift action for your people, the community of Sioux Falls and the State of South Dakota," Noem and Ten Taken wrote.</p><p>Smithfield workers at the shuttered plant will receive full pay for the next 14 days.</p><p>It is hard to know how much plant closures will impact U.S. meat eaters. So far the decreased production has been offset by meat stored in freezers, Kansas State University agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor told The Associated Press.</p><p>"You could shut multiple plants down for a day or two, and we've got wiggle room to handle that," said Tonsor. "But if you took four or five of those big plants ... and they had to be down for two weeks, then you've got a game changer."</p><p>For <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-welfare" target="_self">animal welfare</a> advocates, however, the spread of the new coronavirus at meat processing plants is just another symptom of the industry's disregard for both human and animal life.</p><p>"Even without the connection to coronavirus, animal flesh is one of the most cruelly obtained and unhealthy things you could consume," <a href="https://www.peta.org/blog/coronavirus-covid-19-slaughterhouse-meat-concerns/" target="_blank">People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote</a>. "Eating meat has been conclusively linked to heart disease, cancer, obesity, and other health issues — and according to the United Nations, animal agriculture is responsible for nearly a fifth of human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions. But each person who goes vegan won't just help fight climate change — they'll also save the lives of nearly 200 animals a year, animals who, just like us, don't want to be killed. Don't wait for COVID-20 — forget freezer meat and go vegan now."</p>
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A listeria outbreak linked to enoki mushrooms has killed four people in 17 states and sent 30 to the hospital. Amarita / iStock / Getty Images Plus
The new coronavirus isn't the only public health threat facing the U.S. right now.
<p>A listeria outbreak linked to enoki mushrooms has killed four people in 17 states and sent 30 to the hospital, the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/" target="_blank">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/enoki-mushrooms-03-20/index.html" target="_blank">announced Tuesday</a>.</p><p>"Until we learn more about the source and distribution of the enoki mushrooms, CDC advises that <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/risk.html" target="_blank">people at higher risk for <em>Listeria</em> infections</a> – pregnant women, adults ages 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems, such as people with cancer or on dialysis – avoid eating any enoki mushrooms labeled as 'Product of Korea,'" the agency advised.</p>
<div id="8bd72" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="LU3OQE1583931912"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1237482620818259973" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">RECALL ALERT: Recall of enoki mushrooms linked to Listeria outbreak. Don’t eat, serve, or sell recalled enoki mushr… https://t.co/DzWmVesW4E</div> — CDC (@CDC)<a href="https://twitter.com/CDCgov/statuses/1237482620818259973">1583873822.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The CDC warning came a day after California-based Sun Hong Foods <a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/sun-hong-foods-inc-recalls-enoki-mushroom-because-possible-health-risk" target="_blank">recalled</a> all cases of its enoki mushrooms labeled "Product of Korea" after the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/" target="_blank">Food and Drug Administration</a> (FDA) alerted the company that samples of its product had tested positive for <em>Listeria monocytogenes</em> in Michigan.</p><p>"Enoki mushrooms are white, with long stems and small caps," the FDA explained. "They're usually sold in clusters."</p><p>The mushrooms are popular in East Asian cooking and are also called enokitake, golden needle, futu or lily mushrooms, according to <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2020/03/10/listeria-outbreak-2020-enoki-mushrooms-cdc-fda/5008008002/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>.</p><p>The affected mushrooms were packaged in a white cardboard box, and then in clear plastic bags with green labels, according to the FDA. They have a Universal Product Code of 7 426852 625810 and were distributed in Washington, California, Florida, Illinois, Oregon and Texas. They are carried by J&L Supermarket, Jusgo Supermarket, ZTao Market, New Sang Supermarket and Galleria Market.</p>
<div id="120f1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8EUB8W1583931912"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1237487092776734720" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">FDA is investigating a multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to enoki mushrooms from Sun… https://t.co/9UEXMNv2Ua</div> — Media Affairs (@Media Affairs)<a href="https://twitter.com/FDAMedia/statuses/1237487092776734720">1583874888.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The outbreak so far has sickened a total of 36 people in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/enoki-mushrooms-03-20/map.html" target="_blank">according to the CDC</a>. Cases began to emerge between Nov. 23, 2016 and Dec. 13, 2019. The four deaths occurred in California, Hawaii and New Jersey.</p><p>People infected with listeriosis usually begin to have symptoms one to four weeks after eating contaminated <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a>, though infections can begin as late as 70 days after exposure.</p><p>Pregnant people usually come down with flu-like symptoms such as fever and muscle ache, but it can have dangerous consequences for their children. Six of the people to fall ill in the current outbreak were pregnant, and two of these cases resulted in the loss of the infant.</p><p>In non-pregnant people, symptoms include flu-like symptoms as well as headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions. While otherwise healthy people will likely only experience symptoms for a short amount of time, the disease can have deadly consequences for children, elderly people or those with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA.</p>
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Trump's Plan to Privatize Pork Inspections Called 'a Recipe for Disaster' as Consumer Safety Groups Sue USDA
14 January
Politics
A USDA inspector with pig carcasses. Food & Water Watch
By Eoin Higgins
A lawsuit filed Monday against President Donald Trump's loosening of regulations in pork inspection plants aims to stop the rules from taking effect to protect consumers from illness and death.
<p>Under the new regulations put forth by the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump administration</a>, federal inspectors are no longer responsible for examining the animals before and after slaughter and will see a reduced role on the line.</p><p>According to Food & Water Watch:</p><blockquote>The new rules prevent such inspection and hand over these responsibilities to the slaughter companies themselves. They also surrender federal control over removing contamination from carcasses to slaughter companies without any minimum training requirements for slaughter-plant employees.<br></blockquote><p>"Reducing the number of trained federal inspectors and increasing line speeds is a recipe for disaster," Center for Food Safety staff attorney Ryan Talbott said in a statement. </p><p>"USDA has an obligation to protect the health and welfare of consumers," added Talbott. "USDA cannot do that when it takes a back seat and lets the slaughter plants largely regulate themselves."</p>
<p>The suit, which targets Trump's New Swine Inspection System (NSIS), was filed by Food & Water Watch, the Center for Food Safety and two supporting members.</p><p>"There is no gray area here," said Food & Water Watch senior staff attorney Zach Corrigan in a statement. "The new rules curtail the ability of federal inspectors to detect serious food-safety problems and expose those who consume such pork products to serious health threats like salmonella."</p><p>According to a press release from the two groups, the new Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules are "a draconian reversal to the swine slaughter inspection system that has existed in the United States since 1906."</p><p>"We're suing the crap out of USDA for ... feeding us crap," <a href="https://twitter.com/JackieFilson/status/1216816679570812928" target="_blank">tweeted</a> Food & Water Watch communications manager Jackie Filson.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🛎️ bbrreaakkiinngg 🛎️we're suing the crap out of USDA for... feeding us crap<br><br>the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) will mean pork eaters face higher threats of disease <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/foodsafety?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#foodsafety</a><br><br>👩⚖️🥓=🦠👨⚖️<a href="https://t.co/OEzKIBlQZc">https://t.co/OEzKIBlQZc</a></p>— Jackie Filson (@JackieFilson) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackieFilson/status/1216816679570812928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Under the new regulations put forth by the Trump administration, federal inspectors are no longer responsible for examining the animals before and after slaughter and will see a reduced role on the line.</p><p>According to Food & Water Watch:</p><blockquote>The new rules prevent such inspection and hand over these responsibilities to the slaughter companies themselves. They also surrender federal control over removing contamination from carcasses to slaughter companies without any minimum training requirements for slaughter-plant employees.</blockquote><p>"Reducing the number of trained federal inspectors and increasing line speeds is a recipe for disaster," Center for Food Safety staff attorney Ryan Talbott said in a statement.</p><p>"USDA has an obligation to protect the health and welfare of consumers," added Talbott. "USDA cannot do that when it takes a back seat and lets the slaughter plants largely regulate themselves."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/13/recipe-disaster-consumer-safety-groups-sue-usda-over-trumps-effort-privatize" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
CDC has linked seven listeria infections to hard-boiled eggs from Almark Foods. Keith Getter / Contributor / Moment Mobile / Getty Images
A deadly listeria outbreak has been linked to certain hard-boiled eggs sold in stores and restaurants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Wednesday evening.
<p>"CDC is concerned that bulk, fresh hard-boiled eggs produced by Almark Foods of Gainesville, Georgia, are contaminated with <em>Listeria</em> and have made people sick," the agency warned.</p>
<div id="a488c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="Q0R5UW1576875910"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1207444823692783617" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">OUTBREAK ALERT: 7 Listeria infections linked to hard-boiled eggs used in stores and restaurants. CDC has important… https://t.co/f9BUU09Wq8</div> — CDC (@CDC)<a href="https://twitter.com/CDCgov/statuses/1207444823692783617">1576712253.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Listeria is the third deadliest form of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> poisoning in the U.S., <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/listeria-outbreak-almark-foods-hard-boiled-eggs-tied-to-deadly-listeria-outbreak-cdc-warns/" target="_blank">CBS News reported</a>, sickening around 1,600 a year and killing around 260. The current outbreak has sickened seven people in Florida, Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas, where one person died. Four others have been hospitalized.</p><p>The eggs in question have not been recalled, but the CDC urged restaurants and other food service establishments that had ordered the eggs not to serve them.</p><p>The eggs to avoid are bulk hard-boiled eggs that were pre-peeled and packaged in plastic pails by Almark Foods. They have a 49-day shelf-life.</p><p>"It's important to note that the product in question was shipped to food service distributors, restaurants and other wholesale outlets and does not involve eggs in packages on shelves for consumer purchase at retail stores," Almark Foods said in a statement reported <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/19/health/cdc-alert-hard-boiled-egg-listeria-outbreak-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">by CNN</a>.</p>
<p>Because of this, it will be harder for consumers to know if they are eating eggs that could be infected with listeria. The CDC therefore urged anyone especially at risk for listeria not to eat any store-bought hard-boiled eggs or any products made with them, like egg salads.</p><p>"If you have these products at home, don't eat them. Throw them away, regardless of where you bought them or the use-by date," the CDC said.</p><p>After tossing the products, the CDC urged anyone at risk to sanitize the area where the products were stored. When eating out, customers should ask the restaurant where their hard-boiled eggs were sourced from and avoid ordering them if they came from Almark Foods or if the restaurant does not know their origin.</p><p>Those most at risk for listeria include pregnant people and newborns, people older than 65 and people with weakened immune systems such as those who have cancer or are on dialysis.</p><p>One newborn did become sick during the current outbreak while their mother was pregnant, but the baby survived, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/us/listeria-eggs.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p>
<p>This particular strain of listeria was first discovered at the Almark Foods plant in Georgia during a routine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection in February. Inspectors found the infection at the end of a conveyor belt and on a floor drain.</p><p>The agency issued Almark Foods a warning letter in July, and the company responded in August saying it had made efforts to correct the problem between March and June. But then the CDC received reports of listeria infections in August, September and November. It discovered that the strain was the same as the strain found in the plant and the same as a strain that had sickened three people in 2017.</p><p>Almark Foods stopped production at the Georgia plant this week and is now sterilizing everything, spokesman Gene Grabowski told The New York Times. The company owns another plant in North Carolina that has not been impacted.</p><p>People exposed to listeria usually feel sick one to four weeks afterwards, according to the CDC. Symptoms include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions, fever and muscle aches, but pregnant people typically only experience flu-like symptoms.</p>
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New Trump Admin Hog Slaughtering Rule ‘Will Result in the Fox Guarding the Henhouse’
18 September 2019
Animals
A new rule that ends limits for hog slaughtering speeds could increase animal suffering, advocates warn. kickers / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Trump's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finalized a new hog slaughtering rule Tuesday that environmental and food safety advocates warn could harm animals, plant workers and public health, Reuters reported.
<p>The new rule will end limits on how fast slaughterhouses can kill pigs. It will also shift responsibility for removing defective meat during the slaughtering process from government inspectors to plant workers. The USDA will still inspect live pigs and the final pork products.</p><p>"The implementation of the rule will result in the fox guarding the henhouse," <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/" target="_blank">Food & Water Watch</a> Executive Director Wenonah Hauter told Reuters.</p><p>The USDA claims the new rule, the first update to the slaughtering inspection process in more than 50 years, is an attempt to modernize inspections.</p><p>"This regulatory change allows us to ensure food safety while eliminating outdated rules and allowing for companies to innovate," Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2019/09/17/usda-modernizes-swine-slaughter-inspection-first-time-over-50-years" target="_blank">press release</a>. "The final rule is the culmination of a science-based and data-driven rule making process which builds on the food safety improvements made in 1997, when USDA introduced a system of preventive controls for industry."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For the first time in over 50 years, <a href="https://twitter.com/USDAFoodSafety?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USDAFoodSafety</a> is modernizing swine slaughter inspection w/ a goal of protecting public health while allowing for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/foodsafety?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#foodsafety</a> innovations <a href="https://t.co/hfG5rKFjy4">https://t.co/hfG5rKFjy4</a></p>— Dept. of Agriculture (@USDA) <a href="https://twitter.com/USDA/status/1173971881243947008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>A test of the new rule at five processing plants showed that the rate of slaughter did not speed up dramatically, the USDA said. Average slaughtering time under current rules is 977 pigs per hour, while, under the test of the new regulation, it was 1,099 pigs per hour, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/pork-slaughter-rules-give-companies-more-food-safety-tasks/2019/09/17/6c9efc90-d975-11e9-a1a5-162b8a9c9ca2_story.html" target="_blank">Associated Press reported</a>. The pilot program revealed no increase in bacterial contamination, the USDA said.</p><p>But Tyson Foods, one of the companies that would be impacted by the rule, had to slow down its own chicken processing speeds this year after it <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tyson-recall-chicken-strips-2636414395.html" target="_self">recalled</a> millions of pounds of poultry due to contamination with metal and rubber, Reuters pointed out.</p><p>Advocates are also concerned that faster speeds could lead to more suffering for both plant workers and animals. The announcement comes about two weeks after a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/" target="_blank">Human Rights Watch</a> report found that processing speeds at hog, chicken and beef plants were already endangering workers, and that Trump administration deregulations threatened to make the problem worse.</p><p>"US meat and poultry workers are put under intense pressure to keep up with production, risking traumatic injury and disabling illness," Matt McConnell, research fellow in the business and human rights division and U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch, said in a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/04/us-meatpacking-workers-rights-under-threat" target="_blank">press release</a>. "By giving companies the green light to accelerate their production, the US government is putting workers' health on the line."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Quote of the Day, by Ignacio Davalos, a worker at a hog plant in Nebraska.<br><br>The US has alarmingly high rates of serious injury and chronic illness among workers at chicken, hog, and cattle slaughtering and processing plants. <a href="https://t.co/mBuXQWECsV">https://t.co/mBuXQWECsV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SlowDownTheLine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SlowDownTheLine</a> <a href="https://t.co/0KdEwhcS0W">pic.twitter.com/0KdEwhcS0W</a></p>— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) <a href="https://twitter.com/hrw/status/1169331866689822723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-rights" target="_self">Animal rights</a> groups are also concerned.<br></p><p>In an email to the Associated Press, the <a href="https://www.aspca.org/" target="_blank">American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals</a> said the new rule "is a total abdication of government responsibility and increases the potential for egregious violations of humane slaughter laws."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">USDA Proposes Significant Cuts in Pork Processing Regulation <a href="https://t.co/MYEkU5IZbY">https://t.co/MYEkU5IZbY</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/food_democracy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@food_democracy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AnimalAid?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AnimalAid</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ciwf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ciwf</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/956289304707420160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Salmonella is a common cause of food poisoning. Getty Images
By Julia Ries
This might not be the best week to load up on your leafy greens.
<p>Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc. has issued a recall for several packages of baby spinach due to a possible <em>Salmonella</em> contamination.</p><p>The recall was issued after a random sample of the spinach tested positive for <em>Salmonella</em>, Dole stated in <a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/dole-fresh-vegetables-announces-precautionary-limited-recall-baby-spinach" target="_blank">an announcement shared by the Food and Drug AdministrationTrusted Source</a> (FDA) last week.</p><p>No illnesses have been linked to the affected products so far, but health officials are urging consumers to throw away the products immediately as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/index.html" target="_blank"><em>Salmonella </em>Trusted Source</a> can cause severe health issues in some people — especially infants, older adults, and those with compromised immune systems.</p><p>"<em>Salmonella</em> is concerning to consumers because it can contaminate food and lead to foodborne illness. Though most cases of <em>Salmonella</em> are not severe and consist of diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever, in certain individuals it can lead to bloodstream infections, hospitalization, and death," <a href="http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-people/profiles/adalja/" target="_blank">Dr. Amesh Adalja</a>, an infectious diseases physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told Healthline.</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/spinach-recalled-over-listeria-fears-2" target="_blank">Healthline</a>.</em><em></em></p>
Here’s What’s Been Recalled
<p>The contaminated spinach products were sold in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.</p><p>They affected products, which have a use-by date of August 5, 2019, include:</p><ul> <li>6 ounce Dole Baby Spinach bag, Lot code W20308A (UPC code 0-71430-00964-2)</li></ul><ul><li>10 ounce Dole Baby Spinach clamshell, Lot code W203010 (UPC code 0-71430-00016-8)</li></ul><p>According to Dole, the packages were expired and should no longer be on the shelves.</p><p>However, seeing as people may still have the spinach stored in their fridge, it's crucial to check your food and throw it away if it's from the affected lots.</p>Salmonella Comes on Quick and Usually Clears Up On Its Own
<p>Most people who become infected with <em>Salmonella</em> will experience symptoms, like diarrhea and abdominal pain, for about four to seven days before it clears up on its own.</p><p>In general, the incubation period is fairly short, with symptoms popping up between eight hours to three days after you've eaten any affected foods.</p><p>"It tends to happen relatively quickly. If you ate it last week and you're feeling fine, you don't need to fret," said <a href="http://www.nyp.org/physician/rsbrown" target="_blank">Dr. Robert S. Brown</a>, the clinical chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.</p><p>In certain patients, like the immunosuppressed, the infection can spread from the intestines to the bloodstream. When this happens, <em>Salmonella</em> can be life threatening unless it's promptly treated with antibiotics.</p>Contaminated Fresh Veggies Can Cause Massive Outbreaks
<p>This isn't the first time fresh spinach has carried dangerous bacteria into the homes of thousands of consumers.</p><p>You may recall <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1584385/" target="_blank">the 2006 spinach recall Trusted Source</a> that sent more than 200 people to the hospital and caused three deaths, due to a widespread <em>E. coli</em> contamination.</p><p>Fresh veggies become contaminated with bacteria when infected fecal matter — usually from the gastrointestinal tracts of animals — makes its way into the growing, harvesting, or food preparation processes.</p><p>Contaminated vegetables can cause an outbreak when people don't wash their vegetables, let alone cook them, Brown explained.</p><p>That said, it looks like this recall won't be causing a massive outbreak anywhere close to the 2006 spinach fiasco.</p><p>There've been no reported illnesses thus far, and the number of affected lots is fairly limited in size.</p><p>In addition, <em>Salmonella</em> tends to cause a much milder illness than the type of <em>E. coli </em>that circulated back in 2006, according to Adalja.</p><p>Still, the multi-state outbreak in 2006 shed light on the possible public health risks of eating contaminated veggies and the importance of paying attention to urgent recall notices.</p><p>"Foodborne outbreaks have the potential to become very large and impact large swaths of the country," Adalja said. "Because of this, it is very important that people be aware of the risk of these illnesses and adhere to good food preparation practices."</p>The Bottom Line
<p>Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc. issued a recall for several packages of fresh baby spinach due to a possible <em>Salmonella</em> contamination.</p><p>While there have been no reported illnesses linked to the contamination yet, health officials are urging consumers to throw away the affected products as <em>Salmonella</em> can cause severe health issues in infants, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems.</p><p>While the infection usually clears up on its own in most people, at-risk patients may experience blood stream infections, hospitalization, and even death.</p>Related Articles Around the Web
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