K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Avian influenza impacts 37.5M birds in commercial and backyard flocks

May 10, 2022 - from FoodDive

• "The highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic has impacted more than 37.5 million birds in 291 commercial and backyard flocks as of Monday, according to the USDA.
• "The largest number of cases has been reported in Iowa, where 15 commercial flocks and four backyard ones — adding up to 13.3 million birds — have been affected.
• "The outbreak is having its deepest impact on egg laying hens and turkeys, Bloomberg reported. The illness is highly contagious, and many birds who are infected or exposed are required to be culled.

"Already, egg prices are skyrocketing because of the outbreak. According to USDA’s weekly Egg Markets Overview, on May 6 the average advertised retail price of a dozen large white shell eggs was almost $2.62 a dozen. The prices for eggs now rival those two years ago at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when increased demand sent market prices through the roof — and fueled legal action against some egg producers for sharply higher prices.

"While the industry has struggled to come back from the volatility of the pandemic’s early lockdowns, it’s been working toward meeting the new specific demands of the marketplace. A March CoBank analysis found transitions to cage-free eggs that have been mandated by states such as California and restaurant chains including McDonald’s have resulted in the nation’s total egg laying population decreasing. Avian influenza notwithstanding, according to USDA, there were 305 million hens laying table eggs in March 2022, down from 341 million in March 2019.

"For now, eggs are getting to be in shorter supply at the consumer level. However, today’s consumers have something they didn’t in 2015: egg alternatives. Consumers can buy a ready supply of Eat Just’s plant-based Just Egg, and other players like Hodo are just coming on the market with their substitutes. This outbreak may help the fast-growing plant-based segment take an even larger piece of egg market share — and like some of the ingredient companies that gave CPG makers the tools to permanently reformulate without eggs, the egg alternatives may win over new fans in this outbreak."

Israeli Health Ministry findings: Pigeons in Strauss plant but no Food Safety Manager

May 1, 2022 - from the Jerusalem Post:

"A Health Ministry investigation into the Strauss-Elite production facility has found several problems with the company’s procedures and conduct, all of which could have been a contributing factor to the discovery of salmonella in the factory and the largest product recall in Israeli history early last week.

"The following issues were listed in the Health Ministry report as the main areas in which the company was found deficient:

• "Maintenance work in the plant: In recent months, maintenance work had been carried out in the production facility, along with chocolate production. The company did not take into account the risk that this could pose to the production process and the potential of the construction work to introduce contaminants into the ingredients.
• "Pigeons in the facility" During the Health Ministry’s investigation, the company confessed that several weeks earlier, there had been an intrusion of pigeons into the production facility. While they said an exterminator was immediately called to the factory and the issue was resolved, the correct tests were not carried out to ensure that no contaminants had been left behind by the birds, which are known to carry a variety of bacteria in their droppings.
• "No Food Safety Manager: The investigation revealed that the professional quality-control team at the factory had been replaced in the last year, and as a result, there had been no food-safety manager at the plant for the last several months, indicating that the quality-control and safety system in the Strauss-Elite factory was lacking.
• "Salmonella warnings went unchecked: Another point of concern discovered by the Health Ministry was information that a factory worker had reported an indication that there were higher-than-permitted levels of salmonella in the raw-chocolate ingredients. The complaint was not dealt with by the plant at the time, and no tests were carried out to confirm whether the indication was correct.
• "Unsafe thawing processes: The final issue reported by the Health Ministry in the preliminary investigation was that the facility had not been following the correct procedures regarding the thawing and storing of milk fat, a key ingredient in the production of milk chocolate. This, too, could have led to the salmonella contamination in the production line.
• "The Health Ministry’s head of Public Health Services, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, on Sunday addressed the report findings in a video statement. As a result of the findings, the Health Ministry had decided to suspend Strauss’s production license for a three-month period or until the issues noted in the investigation have been corrected to meet the approved standard, she said.
• "Furthermore, the Health Ministry has run tests on 300 different samples from finished products that had not yet reached the shelves so far and detected salmonella in 10% of them, she said. Until now, no products removed from the stores have been found to contain the bacteria, although the testing is still underway."

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  Strauss CEO Admits: "We Had Pigeons In The Factory, We Were Warned But Didn’t Listen"

  April 28, 2022 - from VinNews:

  "The heads of the Strauss Group company held a press conference on Thursday evening and admitted to shocking revelations regarding the company’s operations in the wake of the salmonella finding and the largest recall in Israeli history. The conference follows the Health Ministry’s announcement on Thursday morning that the factory’s license has been removed for at least three months.

  "CEO Eyal Dror said: 'We recently renovated the factory and it wasn’t carried out according to proper regulations. About a month before the salmonella was discovered, there were pigeons in the liquid chocolate factory. We work with serious pest control companies but proper work regulations were not upheld. Several times we received indications from one of our customers that there were some anomalies in the products. We didn’t check into it and that’s not okay. We should have behaved differently.'"

GE Appliances, a Haier Company, Recalls Bottom Freezer, French Door Refrigerators Due to Fall Hazard

April 14, 2022 - from CPSC in conjunction with Healthy Canadians

GE-brand Free-Standing French Door Refrigerators in Fingerprint Resistant Stainless Steel have been recalled because the freezer handle can detach when a consumer tries to open the freezer drawer, posing a fall hazard to the consumer.

Consumer Contact: GE Appliances toll-free at 888-345-4671 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or online at www.geappliances.com/ge/recall/bottom-freezer-refrigerator-2022/ or www.geappliances.com and click on “Recall Information” at the bottom of the page for more information.

Best Buy Recalls Insignia™ Air Fryers and Air Fryer Ovens Due to Fire and Burn Hazards

April 21, 2022 - from CPSC in conjunction with Healthy Canadians

Insignia Air Fryers and Air Fryer Ovens have been recalled because the air fryers and air fryer ovens can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards.

Consumers can register online at www.insigniaairfryerrecall.expertinquiry.com or call Best Buy at 800-566-7498 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or go online at http://www.bestbuy.com/productrecalls or www.bestbuy.com and click on Product Recalls for more information.

This recall involves the Insignia Digital Air Fryers, Insignia Analog Air Fryers, and Insignia Digital Air Fryer Ovens, model numbers NS-AF32DBK9, NS-AF32MBK9, NS-AF50MBK9, NS-AF53DSS0, NS-AF53MSS0, NS-AF55DBK9, NS-AFO6DBK1 and NS-AFO6DSS1 sold by Best Buy. The brand name INSIGNIA is on the top or front of each unit. A rating label on the underside of each unit identifies the brand INSIGNIA and the model number.

The air fryers and air fryer ovens have cooking chamber capacities ranging from approximately 3.4 to 10 quarts, and plastic or plastic and stainless-steel bodies in black and stainless-steel finishes.

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled air fryers and air fryer ovens and return the product to Best Buy for a refund in the form of a credit for use at Best Buy stores or Bestbuy.com. Best Buy is contacting all known purchasers directly to arrange returns and providing pre-paid shipping boxes and labels and return instructions. Consumers will receive a credit of $50 or the amount on the purchase receipt if higher. Consumers do not need a purchase receipt to get the $50 credit.

Incidents/Injuries: Best Buy has received 68 reports from U.S. consumers and 36 reports from Canadian consumers of the air fryer or air fryer ovens catching fire, burning or melting. These include seven reports of minor property damage and two reports of injuries, including an injury to a child’s leg.

Sold At: Best Buy stores nationwide and online at www.bestbuy.com, www.eBay.com and www.google.com from November 2018 through February 2022 for between $30 and $150.

Louisiana law targeting plant-based meat struck down

April 3, 2022 - from Food Beverage Insider:

"A federal court has ruled that a food labeling law in the state of Louisiana is unconstitutional, in response to a 2020 lawsuit filed by Tofurky, a producer of plant-based meat products.

"Tofurky challenged a Louisiana law that took effect in 2020, the “Truth in Labeling of Food Products Act (Act),” which forbids representations of a food as meat, beef or pork, for example, when the food is not derived from such things as harvested beef, poultry and domesticated swine.

"In a March 28 order granting summary judgment to Tofurky, U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson agreed the law infringes on constitutionally-protected speech in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"Those subject to the law faced fines of up to $500 daily for using terms such as “burger” and “sausage” to represent their plant-based meat products, according to Tofurky and the organizations that represented the producer in federal court—the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Good Food Institute.

"The law barred plant-based meat products from using those terms even when their labels featured such modifiers as “vegan,” “veggie” or “plant-based,” the groups added.

"Jackson found the law was an infringement on protected commercial speech, based on a four-part test expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1980 decision, Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Pub. Serv. Comm’n of N.Y.

"While Tofurky challenged the Act, the government official responsible for administering and enforcing it—the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) commissioner—had not brought an enforcement action against the plant-based meat producer for violating the food products labeling law, according to the judge’s summary judgment order.

"Nor had the LDAF received any complaints from consumers about Tofurky’s labels or, more generally, labels for plant-based meat products or cell cultured food products, Jackson observed."