Feds Close NY Chicken Processing Plant

Late yesterday the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service ordered Murray's Chicken to cease all operations at its South Fallsburg plant. this closure was related to food safety concerns regarding salmonella.

A representative for Murray's argues that as recent as last week, the plant had passed safety inspections. Chief Executive Officer Murray Bresky sent a letter to customers and distributors with the following response:

I guarantee every Murray’s Chicken ever produced at our plant is safe and wholesome. How can we have a passing grade on Friday and Monday morning have food-safety issues?

The Times-Herald Record online has more on the story:

Murray's has spent hundreds of thousand of dollars addressing ongoing FSIS complaints about its aging plant, said Gold. Because of that effort, owner Murray Bresky and company officials were shocked when they received the shutdown notice, he said.

"For some reason, it came to a head yesterday," he said.

Murray's 350 employees process about 35,000 chickens a day at the South Fallsburg plant. A group of five men stood outside a Murray's office on Main Street Tuesday afternoon but refused to comment about the closure.

Fallsburg Supervisor Steve Vegliante is confident the plant will reopen shortly. "I fed my children Murray's chicken on Monday night, and will continue to do so," he said.

Further Reading:
Meat & Poultry.com on Murray's response.
WCAX.com has breaking news on this story as it develops.

What is in the FDA Final Rule on Eggs?

This week the House is expected to take up the new Final Rule on preventing contaminated eggs from reaching the public. Here is what you can expect if the measure passes: (Via the FDA)

Producers with at least 3,000 but fewer than 50,000 laying hens must comply within 36 months after the rule’s publication. Producers with 50,000 or more laying hens must be in compliance with the rule within 12 months after its publication in the Federal Register.

Under the rule, egg producers must:

• Buy chicks and young hens only from suppliers who monitor for Salmonella bacteria
• Establish rodent, pest control, and biosecurity measures to prevent spread of bacteria throughout the farm by people and equipment
• Conduct testing in the poultry house for Salmonella Enteritidis. If the tests find the bacterium, a representative sample of the eggs must be tested over an 8 week time period (4 tests at 2 week intervals); If any of the four egg tests is positive, the producer must further process the eggs to destroy the bacteria, or divert the eggs to a non-food use
• Clean and disinfect poultry houses that have tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis
• Refrigerate eggs at 45 degrees Fahrenheit temperature during storage and transportation no later than 36 hours after the eggs are laid.

You can read the entire final rule here (as a 243 page pdf).

May contain nuts. And salmonella.

Hundreds of people have already become sick and three people may have died as the result of widely distributed tainted peanut butter. Everything from snack foods to pet food is being taken off the shelf, and the FDA is encouraging consumers to check their pantries to ensure that they will not be affected by the outbreak.

While King Nut started this round of recalls, other companies have lined up to issue their own. As of today 125 different foods are on the recall list. MSNBC has a breakdown of what is being recalled, and the FDA has set up a page where you can search by UPC, brand name, or description.

If you have purchased bulk peanut butter from a distributor, The Examiner has some lot numbers for you to check on:

The peanut butter being recalled is sold by the company in bulk to distributors to the food service industry. Peanut Corporation of America notified it’s customers by telephone and in writing, according to a company press release.

Lot numbers of the recalled product are 8193, 8194, 8197, 8233, 8234, 8235, 8241, 8255, 8256, 8275, 8276, 8282, 8283, 8284, 8296, 8316, 8330, 8331, 8336, 8345, 8354. Packages range in size from five to 50 pounds.

Further Reading:

Hershey and ConAgra not part of peanut investigation via Reuters
Girl Scout Cookies are not affected by recall via KAIT 8 News
The peanut recall expands via the Wall Street Journal
Worried consumers toss peanut products via MSNBC
Peanut Butter sales are holding according to Kentucky.com

Too little, too late?

The AP reports on the breakthrough in the salmonella case.

Restaurants, consumers, and the tomato industry had reason to breath a sigh of relief this week as two kinds of peppers found in Mexico were linked to the ongoing search for the source of the salmonella outbreak. While officials fell short of completely vindicating the tomato, they did report that no tomatoes have tested positive for salmonella. The cause of the outbreak is being reported as "contaminated irrigation water."

Mexico is denying that they are the source of the outbreak, saying that the positive tests were only preliminary findings. American produce industry executives expressed their dismay at a hearing on Wednesday. They argued that the investigation took too long to get to the "smoking gun." The LA Times reports:

Produce industry insiders, many also testifying at the Wednesday hearing, criticized what they called an expensive, inept investigation that had little transparency and failed to engage business owners.

One executive said his company, which ships tomatoes and other produce across seven states, had lost as much as $18 million since the outbreak began. Members of the Irvine-based Western Growers Assn. have collectively lost $13 million, said Henry L. Giclas, one of the group's vice presidents.

"I don't know how they could call it a breakthrough when our industry's already been broken," he said after testifying.

In other commodity news, corn prices dropped another 3.7%, with soybeans falling 2.8% for the week. While Congress failed to come to an agreement on what to do about oil prices and speculators, it was the weather that brought about the price decline. Thunderstorms rolling into the Midwest prompted the favorable prediction that despite the flooding earlier this year, corn production could still be on production schedule.

Cheaper corn might not directly translate to help for the suffering restaurant industry. The Chicago Tribune reported on the change in consumer spending habits:

In the restaurant business hard times have touched off a flurry of trading down to cheaper outlets.

That's a plus for McDonald's, which is testing a higher price for the double cheeseburger that anchors its dollar menu, and a minus for casual-dining chains. Bennigan's, for example, abruptly shuttered hundreds of its outlets last week.

At the same time, Americans are eating at home more regularly, a help to packaged-food companies at the expense of restaurants.

Further Reading:

San Fransisco Chronicle on criticism on US probe into the salmonella outbreak.
MarketWatch on corn prices creating a buying opportunity.
Seattle PI on the year long moratorium against fast food restaurants in Los Angeles.

In: Bacon Out: Salsa

Despite a small blurb that corn prices rose due to the USDA announcing what we all knew- that production of corn will be lower than last month- the eye of the media was fixed on the continued hunt for the source of the salmonella outbreak.

Over 1,000 people have become ill, and US health officials just broadened the list of foods to avoid to include hot peppers and cilantro as well as raw tomatoes. The media instantly ran headlines such as AFP's "Salsa ingredients Suspected as US salmonella outbreak spreads," and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution took to the streets to interview restaurant owners on their plans for a potential salsa outage.

The problem with the anti salsa sentiment can be summed up with this quote from the AJC's own article:

"Ninety percent of Mexican restaurants," including his, use canned tomatoes and jalapeños in salsa, and since they are cooked, they are free of bacteria like salmonella, Diaz said. The restaurant will also offer an alternative to guacamole — a sliced avocado with extra virgin olive oil sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper.

So we can't blame salsa, but we can avoid fresh versions of salsa ingredients. All of this confusion, and an investigation that started back in May and has yet to produce the source, is becoming frustrating. A writer for the Morning Journal argued:

We need to use available technology, backed up by force of law and regulation, to answer the question "where did this stuff come from?" There is no reason, or room, to allow continuing mystery over where the foods we eat come from and whether they were handled in a sanitary, healthful manner.

All of this talk about food safety, as well as criticism from a recent recall involving food served at elementary schools, prompted the USDA to announce a change in recall policy. They will begin releasing the names of retailers who carried meat and poultry listed in Class 1 recalls. From the USDA press release:

"The identity of retail stores with recalled meat and poultry from their suppliers has always been a missing piece of information for the public during a recall," said Schafer. "People want to know if they need to be on the lookout for recalled meat and poultry from their local store and by providing lists of retail outlets during recalls, USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service will improve public health protection by better informing consumers."

In other food worries, NPR recently ran an audio story about the Plum Island lab, and how they are potentially seeking a new location- on the main land. Despite a new report saying that just building a new lab on the island would be the safest way to prevent an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, NewsDay.com reported that the region's elected officials are still opposed to it.

How worried are you about food safety? Have the recalls affected your business? Answer in the comment section below.

On the lighter side of the news, Salon.com celebrated "Pork Week." They featured articles on the bacon boom and shared news of new bacon products such as bacon salt, bacon candles, and the bacon tuxedo. Even Portland's own Voodoo Doughnut got a nod for their Bacon Maple Bar.

Their Pork Week article series:

• Bacon Mania
• Belly of the Beast
• Bacon is dead! Long live bacon!
• A wonderful, magical animal

Further reading:

The LA Times on the USDA naming of retailers in food recalls.
KOAT on salmonella not scaring people from Mexican food.
CBC News on the hunt for the salmonella outbreak source.

Bad Days for Tomatoes and Corn.

Food was front and center in the news this week. Flooding, salmonella outbreaks, and soaring oil prices topped headlines, and while wheat prices fell, the general mood on any possible relief for raising food costs was somber.

At the beginning of the week tomatoes were pulled off of grocery store shelves and restaurant menus after the FDA issued a Salmonella warning for raw red tomatoes. So far over 200 people have become ill, and the FDA is still trying to determine the source of the outbreak.

In the Pacific Northwest, grocery stores and farmers were quick to respond to the warning. The News-Review Today reported that places like Sherm’s Thunderbird pulled its tomatoes until learning their source was safe, while the Dairy Queen in Roseburg joined chains like Mc Donalds and Chipotle, stating they would keep tomatoes from their hamburgers at least through the weekend.

While Oregon's Caruso Produce was cleared by the FDA, other farmers were not having as easy of a time. Michael Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, spoke to NPR about the effect the warning was having on the growers:

They're extremely frustrated in that business has basically ground to a halt at this point in time. We're anxiously awaiting a determination by the Food and Drug Administration as to what the specific source of this problem is. And until that happens, quite frankly, we're dead in the water.

You can read the entire NPR piece here.

As the nation threw out tons of possibly contaminated tomatoes, commodity watchers kept an eye on corn as prices rose all week to end at $7.357 per bushel; a new record. Major flooding throughout the Midwest destroyed thousands of acres of crops, and with forecasts predicting more rain, analysts are predicting prices could surge above $8.00 per bushel.

MarketWatch reported Monday on the already decreased 2009 corn crop, and as the week went on analysts told reporters that the flooding would have major consequences. Chad Hart, an agriculture economist at Iowa State University told the Chicago Tribune that:

Given the flooding we see today, we're likely to see prices go significantly higher based on the weather....This is a significant event. We were already having production issues before this occurred, all across the Midwest. This can have gigantic implications.

Conversely, the National Corn Growing Association's president Ron Litterer released a hopeful statement about the crop:

In Iowa in 1993, record rainfall reached well into the summer months and severely affected the crop that year. That is not the long-term forecast for 2008, and there’s still a lot of the growing season left, so we are hopeful the final results will not be as devastating as it was 15 years ago. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently projected our third-largest crop ever at more than 11.7 billion bushels, we know that the final number depends on how the weather holds.

Thanks to a large surplus of beginning stocks from the record 2007 harvest, we came in with a good supply. We are watching the skies at home and tracking the updates from Washington while working hard doing what we do best – growing corn to help feed and fuel the world.

The long-term effects of the tomato and corn issues are still to be seen, but many experts are warning that we have not seen the peak of rising prices.

Further Reading:

• The New York Times on commodity prices climbing
• The Associated Press on the surge in corn prices
• Reuters on the FDA's slow moving progress on food safety