Jacksonville Personal Injury Blog

Five supermarkets in Florida received some of the turkey contaminated with salmonella that was recalled last week. The stores are Winn-Dixie, Albertsons,IGA, Walmart, and Aldi. The meat was removed from store shelves. The type of salmonella identified by inspectors was Heidelberg and it was suspected to have contaminated 36 million pounds of ground turkey processed from February 20 to August 2. Cargill’s plant is in Springdale, Arkansas, though the source of the contamination was not identified by The Sun Sentinel. The salmonella Heidelberg strain is resistant to antibiotics.

One person has died and 107 from 31 states including Texas, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan were sickened from eating the turkey. There were no sicknesses reported in Florida.

Consumers who may still have some of the meat in their freezer can return the food for a refund or call Cargill at 1-888-812-1646 or go to Cargill.com. The recalls brands include Honeysuckle White, Shady Brook Farms, Fit & Active and Giant Eagle.

Cargill is facing a number of lawsuits over the salmonella-contaminated turkey including one filed by the parents of a 10-month-old girl who ate spaghetti and meat balls containing ground turkey. The baby had diarrhea and a fever of 102-degrees and the bacteria was in her bloodstream. She was hospitalized for seven days.

Cargill has a history of recalls associated with contaminated food going back to 1993, reports Consumer Affairs. Industrialized farming concentrates livestock in conditions that are far removed from natural and antibiotics are put in livestock feed to fight off disease from the unnatural conditions and to encourage growth of the animals. That makes the bacteria evolve to be resistant to the antibiotics used.

It’s no wonder people are returning to locally grown food in season produced by farmers they can meet who feel responsible toward their customers. We encourage people to visit the farmer’s markets that are cropping up all around Florida and the Jacksonville area to lend them you support and vote for clean food with your buying dollar.

Sources: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2011/08/suits-coming-home-to-roost-in-cargill-turkey-case.html and http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-11/news/fl-hk-turkey-recall-stores-20110811_1_cargill-turkey-salmonella-contamination-ground-turkey

The popular weight loss liquid drink, Slim-Fast ready-to-drink cans are being recalled because of a possible bacterial contamination. Unilever issued the voluntary recall in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration Friday.

The New Jersey based company found a bacterial contamination - Bacillus cereus, a micro-organism, which may cause diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. The products were sold in stores nationwide the company says in a statement.

Unilever says the possibility of getting sick is remote. The recall covers the 11 ounce ready-to drink products and does not affect powdered shakes, meal or snack bars. The list of products includes Slimfast Ready to Drink 3-2-1- French Vanilla, Rich Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Unilever says it is issuing the recall in an “abundance of caution.”

Look for individual or packaged cans in cardboard cartons containing four, six, or 12-cans.
The recall was initiated after the company conducted quality testing on Slim-Fast RTD products in cans. The company says it is in the process of identifying and correcting the production issue and is alerting distribution centers, and retail outlets. Production will be resumed when the issue is corrected, the company says.

Call the company for a full refund at 800-896-9479, opened M-F until 6 p.m. EST.

Until now, Florida was one of seven states that did NOT have a salmonella outbreak. But now, a North Florida resident has shown signs of salmonella poisoning, according to a Florida Department of Health report issued on February 5th. There are very few details about the person or what they might have eaten to make them sick, but Florida is now the 44th and most recent state to have residents who have been sickened with the same type of salmonella that came from the Blakely, Georgia peanut processing plant. Salmonella Typhimuirium has sickened more than 550 and killed eight.

This time the resident of Bradford County was temporarily hospitalized. The city of Starke is in that county, but no other information on his/her location except that he had the same DNA match of salmonella Typhimuirium involved in the food recall.

Continue reading "Florida Joins 43 States With First Salmonella Case" »

Grab the kids' school lunches. The salmonella outbreak that has expanded to 43 states sickening up to 474 individuals.

Florida continues to dodge the bullet, though the peanut butter distributed in question from Peanut Corp. of America does distribute to our state. Follow the salmonella outbreak and the national picture through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page that is set up just for that purpose.

The latest report is that Kellogg, the cereal giant, is asking stores to pull its Keebler and Austin brand peanut butter crackers from shelves. Anyone with these products who would like a product refund can call the Kellogg Consumer Response Center at 888-314-2060.

Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan says it has not received any complaints or discovered any problems but it does use peanut paste from Peanut Corp. of America which has recalled its peanut butter.

Continue reading "Flordia Protected From Salmonella Outbreak So Far By Peanut Butter Recall" »

So far Florida is lucky and has dodged the bullet of the latest salmonella outbreak. A reportstates that 42 states have been struck and the King Nut Company of Ohio believes it may be responsible.

The company has issued a nationwide food recall of the peanut butter it distributes throughout the country, including to Florida. So far 399 people have been affected and they range in age from toddlers to the elderly.

King Nut distributes to food service companies and not directly to consumers. That means that any school or nursing home should check to see if King Nut distributes the type of peanut butter they serve. It could also carry the name Parnell’s Pride. It was made by Peanut Corporation of America, located in Lynchburg, Virginia. It processes the peanut butter in plants in Virginia, Georgia, and Texas.

Continue reading "Nationwide Peanut Butter Salmonella Contamination Results in Food Recall" »