Food Contamination And Poisoning

Malt-O-Meal Inc. recalled up to 3 million pounds of cereal nationwide because of a possible link to salmonella poisoning in 12 states. The cereal manufacturer asked grocers to pull from their shelves the Malt-O-Meal brand of plain Toasty-Os and Toasted Oats, as well as plain toasted oat cereals sold at 38 supermarket chains under various brand names, including Janet Lee (Albertson's), Lucky, Safeway, Stater Brothers and Smith's.

Costco Wholesale Corp. on Monday recalled frozen ground beef patties from 24 states, including California, after an elderly woman in New York became sick from deadly E. coli bacteria, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The USDA tested Costco beef from the same batch eaten by the woman and found traces of E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria. About 172,000 pounds of beef are subject to the voluntary recall by Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco.

The president of a food-brokering firm who fraudulently sold 1.7 million pounds of Mexican strawberries linked to a hepatitis outbreak will spend five months in prison and five months in home custody, a federal judge ruled Monday. "I have a lot of remorse for what I did," Frederick L. Williamson, 61, president of Andrew and Williamson Co., told U.S. District Court Judge Leland Nielson. Nielson ordered Williamson's company to pay $150,000 in restitution and a $200,000 fine.

State and dairy industry officials launched a large-scale education campaign Tuesday warning against consumption of homemade "bathtub cheeses," which are popular in the Latino community but have been linked to serious food poisoning outbreaks. The campaign targets soft, white cheeses made by unlicensed manufacturers and sold illegally door-to-door, at swap meets and at mom-and-pop stores.

State agriculture officials have announced the recall of mozzarella and ricotta cheese produced by the Tutto Latte company after the discovery of harmful bacteria during routine sampling. Listeria monocytogenes was found by inspectors from the Department of Food and Agriculture.

IBP Inc., the nation's largest meatpacker, recalled a shipment of ground beef after U.S. Agriculture Department scientists found a sample tainted with the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria during a random test. The USDA notified health departments in 21 states, not including California, of the contamination, but the department said it considers the recall to be nationwide. There have been no reported illnesses linked to the meat.

A Cal State Fullerton student who died on a Tijuana street during spring break choked after ingesting a spoiled fruit drink, her father and a private physician said Monday. Earlier reports by the Tijuana coroner's office had indicated that Kavita Chopra, 21, had been felled by cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease, possibly brought on by heavy drinking. But Dr. Parvin Syal, a Glendale physician retained by the family to do a tissue analysis, said Monday that he strongly disagrees.

From hand-washing to disposal of manure, the Food and Drug Administration issued farm and processing guidelines aimed at reducing bacteria in fruit and vegetables. The guidelines, which are voluntary, detail a series of practices in fields and in the food industry intended to curb growing incidences of illness from such microbes as E. coli and salmonella on lettuce, tomatoes and other produce.

Odwalla Inc. is "actively" seeking to settle likely federal criminal charges stemming from a 1996 outbreak of food poisoning traced to the company's apple juice, a company official said. Odwalla spokesman Chris Gallagher declined to comment on a report that the company would plead guilty to misdemeanor food-safety violations and pay a $1.5-million fine to settle charges stemming from the outbreak of E. coli bacterial poisoning that killed a 16-month-old girl and sickened more than 50 people.