SALMONELLA IN CANADIAN DUCK

And now it's smoked duck - delicious smoked, ready-to-eat, imported duck. Two U.S. importers have issued recalls because the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS) - which is charged with keeping such meat products safe - found Salmonella bacteria in a test sample. They both got the duck product from Canada.

If you've read The Safe Food Handbook: How to Make Smart Choices about Risky Food, you'll know that these products comply with two of the four high-risk criteria - "remote" (imported, travelling many miles) and "ready" (ready-to-eat, RTE, foods are more risky).

The recalling U.S. companies are: Sid Wainer & Son, Inc., of New Bedford, Mass. and Palmex, Inc., of Champlain, N.Y. They got it from a Canadian company named Charcuterie Parisienne (a private company, based in Montreal).

The product being recalled is "Magret de Canard Fume Seche - Dried Smoked Duck Breast, Produit du Canada/Product of Canada." I don't know yet whether any of this product was distributed in Canada itself by the original company, or, by one of the importers (oddly enough, sometimes food does a U-turn and goes right back across the border to where it came from - I discussed this in an earlier post).

The U.S. imports a lot of food from Canada (and visa versa). Comparatively speaking, it is fairly safe. But recalls do happen. This is certainly not the first instance. There have been several for deli meat or poultry over the years.

These duck products were sold for institutional use, meaning that they went to places such as restaurants, hotels, retailers and so on. The first company distributed them in in Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. The second one sent them for on-distribution to sites in California and to the Dominican Republic (notice again, how the food we eat travels around these days). Who knows where it ended up.

We are not talking about huge quantities here (some 350 lbs so far, but there may be more). People just don't eat that much duck, particularly in this economy, since it is usually pretty expensive. But you may want to think twice before ordering an "away from home" smoked duck salad, or something similar, in the next few weeks, no matter how good it sounds.

To your good health,
TSF

"CONVENIENCE" FOODS RECALLED AGAIN

It doesn't matter whether we call them "convience foods" or "ready-to-eat foods" (as I do in The Safe Food Handbook) the result is still the same: they are more likely to be contaminated with bacteria and to contain more unhealthy chemicals than are "simple" foods that have you slaving over the kitchen sink and stove for a while.

The most common risk is the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes (see previous post and several earlier ones for special risks for pregnant women and others). And, there is another recall in the U.S. This time it is by Warabeya U.S.A., Inc., based in Honolulu, Hawaii.It is recalling approximately 1,550 pounds of convenience meals that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Here's the list as in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) news release:

- "10.3-ounce packages of "7-ELEVEN FRIED CHICKEN BENTO"
- "11-ounce packages of "7-ELEVEN TERIYAKI CHICKEN BENTO"
- "10-ounce packages of "7-ELEVEN BREAKFAST SCRAMBLE BOWL"
- "17.75-ounce packages of "7-ELEVEN BIG BENTO"
- "7.25-ounce packages of "7-ELEVEN LITTLE SMOKIES SNACK PACK

The USDA seems to think the common cause was a contaminated food scale pan used for all these different RTE products. It might also be a common ingredient..The result is the same. Don't eat them - especially if you are pregnant!

To your good health,
TSF

WHAT'S REALLY IN BAGGED SALADS?

Most of us eat bagged salads at least once in a while - me included. But I have decided to eat them less. Here's why.

First, it's that bacteria issue. Those bagged greens are not as clean as they look. In fact, outbreaks and recalls have persistently plagued the bagged salad industry. The research I have reviewed suggests that maybe at least 5% of pre-washed, bagged greens carry some bacteria. Maybe in half of these cases it's just some relatively harmless E.coli or Listeria (not the dangerous ones). The rest of the time, it's a few, or more than a few bacteria such as one of the Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, or E.coli 0157, which can harm us, particularly if we are more vulnerable (like pregnant women, older adults). So much for triple washing!

I'm not saying that the fresh head of lettuce won't have microbes on it too, but at least it won't carry an added dose from sick plant workers or from badly sanitized equipment that may have got in during the washing, shredding and bagging process. I'll just stick to those "bad bugs" (and the not-so-bad ones) that were there when my lettuce was in the field.

There are also two other reasons that I am not too happy with the bagged stuff. First, those salad greens are usually washed in chlorinated water - a pretty strong solution, much stronger than our tap water. Personally, I'm not overly worried about chlorine, but my general philosophy is "the less chemicals the better." Besides, I have read a couple of opinion-pieces (note - I am not saying these are based on reliable research) about potentially unhealthy chlorination by-products. I also wonder why some European countries don't allow washing of fruits or vegetables with the high-chlorine solutions that U.S. and Canadian industry uses. Maybe they know something that we don't.

Then there is that "air" that's inside the bag. No - not normal air, it's Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP). The oxygen level has been lowered, and nitrogen or carbon dioxide has been added. This extends shelf life and prevents the salad leaves from turning brown. Alright, a little bit more of nitrogen or CO2 won't hurt us - at least as far as we know and it's for a good cause. I just don't like the idea. It's a personal preference. I want my salads to breathe normal air just like I do.

TSF

CONTAMINATED READY-TO-EAT FOODS

One of the consistent arguments of The Safe Food Handbook is that ready-to-eat (RTE) foods are likely to be more risky. This applies to meat products as well as non-meat RTE foods. And it's the same everywhere - not just in the United States and Canada.

Did you notice in the previous blog ("The Food Recall Myth") that almost all of the items on the 2010 6-month list of USDA recalls fell into that category (fried pork loaf, salads, appetizers, sandwiches, potstickers and so on - take a look). In fact, it was a bad year for RTE products, particularly those containing meat or based on meat.

Here's what I found for 2010 as a whole (12 months - but I included only recalls linked to possible contaminants of one kind or another - not those for mislabeling, an undeclared allergen or ingredient): 73% of the recalls by the USDA were for ready-to-eat products. This was up considerably from 2009, where the majority of such food recalls (22 compared to 19) were for uncooked fresh or frozen meat - usually ground beef products.

Why? I bet it's at least partly because we are cooking less and less and eating more and more of the "grab and go" type of foods. Alright, I perfectly sympathize with the woman who wrote in and said that after a day's work, when she was too tired to cook, it was at least a step up from fast food. Agreed. But it's a step down from a 10-15 minute, "frig to plate" fresh-cooked meal.

OK - I'm super fast, but yes, you can make a great though simple dinner for two based on fresh products in that time (complex ones naturally take longer). Of course, another way to do it is what one of my busy but health-conscious friends (who up to recently lived alone) does: she goes to the farmer's market on the weekend and then fresh cooks and freezes dinners for the weekdays ahead. OK, maybe a bit limiting, but certainly less risky.

We live in the real world. Most of us end up compromising on RTE foods, and eat them at least once in a while. But let's try to do it less often. This is a growing eating trend - but not a healthy one.

TSF