Salmonella

Nestle USA issued a voluntary recall of its Nesquik chocolate powder after being tipped off by an ingredient supplier of possible salmonella contamination. The Glendale-based company said it was calling back canisters of the product, which is mixed with milk to create a sweet drink, that were made in October and sold nationwide. Consumers should look for containers bearing an expiration date of October 2014. Nestle USA decided to recall the powder after supplier Omya Inc. issued its own recall of calcium carbonate, a Nesquik ingredient, amid concerns that salmonella was present in some batches.

More than 70 people in 18 states have fallen ill because of a salmonella outbreak linked to imported Mexican cucumbers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The agency said 14 people have been hospitalized, and it is working with state health officials to identify other people who may have been infected. The source of the outbreak is thought to be Mexican supplier Daniel Cardenas Izabal and Miracle Greenhouse of Culiacan, Mexico. The cucumbers were distributed by Tricar Sales Inc. of Rio Rico, Ariz., the CDC said.

This is salmonella's world. We're just living in it. The bacterium appeared on the planet millions of years before humans, and scientists are certain it will outlast us too. It's practically guaranteed that salmonella will keep finding its way into the food supply despite the best efforts of producers and regulators. Since breaking off from its close cousin E. coli more than 100 million years ago, salmonella has evolved into more than 2,500 strains. Some, such as Typhi, sicken humans but have no effect on other animals.

An increasing proportion of Americans made ill by food-borne pathogens in 2012 suffered from the effects of bacteria often found in uncooked poultry and in seafood from warm coastal waters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday. Among the food-borne illnesses tracked in 10 U.S. monitoring sites, the incidence of illness attributed to the bacterium Campylobacter --most often originating from raw or undercooked poultry and sometimes from raw milk products--rose by 14% in 2012 over levels seen in 2006-2008.

As the scope of the nationwide salmonella outbreak expanded late last month, farmers market vendors reported rushes on locally produced eggs and people with backyard flocks were sitting smug. But food safety experts say consumers shouldn't jump to the conclusion that locally produced eggs are any safer than eggs from large commercial suppliers. "Salmonella and chickens go together," says Casey Barton Behravesh, a veterinary epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of food-borne, water-borne and environmental disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat certain ProtiDiet High Protein Chocolate Dream bars due to possible contamination with salmonella , according to an FDA statement Monday. The manufacturer, Pro-Amino International Inc., of Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada, has recalled the protein bars, which are sold in seven-bar packages. The packages bear the folllowing marks: UPC 6 21498 42238 1, lot code CR 18 13B and best before date 2015-08, according to an FDA news release.

Salmonella food poisoning sickens 40,000 Americans a year and there may be 30 times more cases that never get reported, according to the CDC. But some scientists think the nasty microbe could be turned to good purpose: to fight cancers. Sounds odd, but there's a rhyme and reason to such thinking, as described in a pretty interesting news article published in the journal Nature Medicine . (It's one of a number of news articles on cancer topics in the journal this month.) Related: Cancer screening tests you think you should get -- a PSA test and for women in their 40s,  a mammogram -- that might do more harm than good.

It's easy to be the Monday-morning quarterback, but credit the Center for Science in the Public Interest for asking why federal regulators didn't warn consumers sooner about the possibility that turkey from a Cargill plant in Arkansas might be tainted with salmonella. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture acknowledged Thursday that they may have had hints that the strain of salmonella that has caused one death and more than 20 hospitalizations was tied with the Arkansas plant.

Grape tomatoes found in a variety of salads at some western U.S. grocery stores may be contaminated with salmonella, the grower has warned. So check that chef salad, Cobb salad, orzo salad, seafood salad, Greek salad, mozzarella salad or chicken salad, among others, in the refrigerator. It may have been recalled. No illnesses have been reported, so there's little need to panic. But the recall of the tomatoes -- and thus, the salads -- highlights, once again, the number of products that can be affected by one instance (or possible instance)

Sprouts, again. The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that consumers should avoid eating alfalfa sprouts or spicy sprouts from Evergreen Produce amid concerns that the vegetables are linked to a small salmonella outbreak in the U.S.  Twenty cases of salmonella, including one hospitalization, might be linked to these sprouts in Idaho, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota and Washington, the agency said. The alfalfa sprouts come in 4-ounce, 16-ounce (1-pound) and 5-pound plastic bags.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat certain ProtiDiet High Protein Chocolate Dream bars due to possible contamination with salmonella , according to an FDA statement Monday. The manufacturer, Pro-Amino International Inc., of Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada, has recalled the protein bars, which are sold in seven-bar packages. The packages bear the folllowing marks: UPC 6 21498 42238 1, lot code CR 18 13B and best before date 2015-08, according to an FDA news release.

A four-year survey of a strange salmonella outbreak in children found that the culprits appear to be pet African dwarf frogs, according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study released Monday in the journal Pediatrics is the first to link a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium to an amphibian species. Salmonella is typically a food-borne disease: Nontyphoidal salmonella sickens an estimated 1.2 million people per year, hospitalizing 23,000 and resulting in 450 deaths.

A federal grand jury, investigating one of the largest food-related recalls ever, indicted four executives at the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America, accusing them of knowing that their products were tainted with salmonella bacteria, covering up the evidence and selling the food anyway. The 76-count criminal indictment, disclosed Thursday, accused the four of engaging "in multiple schemes to defraud the company's customers. " Named as defendants were the former president, Stewart Parnell; his brother Michael, a food broker representing the company; Samuel Lightsey, operations manager at the company's Blakely, Ga., plant; and Mary Wilkerson, the plant's quality-assurance manager.

Several officials at the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America knew their products may have harbored salmonella bacteria, but they covered up the evidence and sold the food anyway, alleged a 76-count federal indictment unsealed this week. Peanut butter, roasted peanuts and other items prepared at PCA's Blakely, Ga. plant were linked to a 2009 salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 700 people across 46 states and may have contributed to nine deaths. One of the largest food-based recalls in history resulted, affecting thousands of products made since 2007, including cookies, cereal and even pet treats, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Flexing its new enforcement muscle from a 2011 food safety law, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday shut down operations of the largest organic peanut butter processor in the country after discovering salmonella, the Associated Press said .  The FDA halted production at Sunland Inc.'s New Mexico plant after 41 people in 20 states were sickened by peanut butter from the plant, sold at Trader Joe's grocery stores. The food safety law gave the FDA authority to suspend a company's registration - preventing production and distribution - when food made there has a "reasonable probability" of causing serious health problems or death.

Nestle USA issued a voluntary recall of its Nesquik chocolate powder after being tipped off by an ingredient supplier of possible salmonella contamination. The Glendale-based company said it was calling back canisters of the product, which is mixed with milk to create a sweet drink, that were made in October and sold nationwide. Consumers should look for containers bearing an expiration date of October 2014. Nestle USA decided to recall the powder after supplier Omya Inc. issued its own recall of calcium carbonate, a Nesquik ingredient, amid concerns that salmonella was present in some batches.

Three pet-product manufacturers -- Feline's Pride, Merrick Pet Care and United Pet Group -- have recently issued or expanded voluntary recalls of some of their products over concerns about possible salmonella contamination. Feline's Pride, a New York-based company that makes raw cat food, has recalled 2.5-pound containers of its Natural Chicken Formula cat and kitten food produced on June 10 and 21. Merrick Pet Care, based in Texas with distributors around the country, has recalled 86 cases of its Beef Filet Squares for Dogs treats.

The peanut butter recall that started this past weekend with a salmonella-linked product sold at Trader Joe's has now been expanded to dozens of peanut, cashew and almond butters, according to producer Sunland Inc. The New Mexico-based company manufactured and packaged the Trader Joe's Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter that regulators have since connected to 29 salmonella illnesses in 18 states, including California. Sunland this week said its voluntary recall now also includes 76 varieties of almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, tahini and roasted blanched peanut products.

Check that peanut butter in your fridge. Again. Even if you haven't been shopping at Trader Joe's. On Thursday, Sunland Inc. expanded its nut butter recall to include all products made in its Portales, N.M., facility between March 1, 2010 and Sept. 24, 2012 - bringing the total number of products potentially implicated in a recent Salmonella outbreak to 240.  In addition to peanut and almond butters from Trader Joe's, some of which were first linked to salmonella illness in mid-September, the new recall includes nut butters sold at Target, Fresh & Easy, Costco and other stores.  In its own Salmonella update , the Food and Drug Administration also called attention to “related recalls” of peanut butter cookies, crackers and snacks - including peanut sesame noodles and other prepared items from Whole Foods Market.

The peanut butter recall that started this past weekend with a salmonella-linked product sold at Trader Joe's has now been expanded to dozens of peanut, cashew and almond butters, according to producer Sunland Inc. The New Mexico-based company manufactured and packaged the Trader Joe's Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter that regulators have since connected to 29 salmonella illnesses in 18 states, including California. Sunland this week said its voluntary recall now also includes 76 varieties of almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, tahini and roasted blanched peanut products.