• Wisconsin Firm Recalls Cured Uncooked Sausage Products Due To Mislabeling and an Undeclared Allergen
• California Firm Recalls Frozen Ground Beef Products Due To Possible E. Coli O157: H7 Contamination
• General Mills Issues Voluntary Class One Recall of One Day’s Production of Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Flavor Granola Thins
• Abbott Voluntarily Recalls Certain Similac® Brand Powder Infant Formulas That Did Not Meet Its Quality Standards
• The Hartz Mountain Corporation Recalls Hartz Naturals Real Beef Treats Because of Possible Salmonella
• Whole Foods Market® Announces Recall of Morningland Dairy and Ozark Hills Farm Cheese
• Iowa Firm Recalls Frozen Chicken Products Due To Possible Salmonella Contamination

I do admit there sure a lot of recalls taking place.. But is it due to our food safety system being broken?  Or are we just hearing about them  or if recalls are increasing is it due to our enhanced capabilities in reporting and investigating

I am not sure!    What do you think? Share your thoughts by posting a reply

If the FDA is asking for this authority then, this implies that they currently do not have the authority to do so.

I know this sounds a bit old school but back in the days when I was a Plant QA Manager (You’ll have to guess how many years ago that was) We were inspected by he FDA at least twice e year and I vividly remember on more than once standing in doorway to our lab not allowing access to the FDA inspector. Stating that it was our company policy not to give Access to testing data. That if the inspector wanted access they would have to request that in writing to our corporate offices. It always worked and the FDA inspector would back off.

So what has changed that now allows the FDA to show up and take samples (Swabs) to find a specific microbe?  How does that differ from gaining access to food safety records?  The only difference I see is who took the sample.

Why does this matter?  Well let’s look at the impact. I received a panic call from a client stating the FDA was on site taking over 1800 swabs including fork truck tires because his company is one of many suppliers to a company that is recline their product due to e-coli.  He was asking what should he do??

Look at, Plainview Milk Products Cooperative, Plainview, Minn. recall of instant nonfat dried milk, whey protein, fruit stabilizers, and gums.

I’m curious at what your thoughts are. Please leave your comment below.

-Steve Gruler

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