Tainted items/alerts/warnings

[CielOnTap]

Probe on tainted diet pills widens
by Rita Rubin - Jan. 7, 2009 06:43 PM
USA Today
The Food and Drug Administration is adding an additional 41 products to an alert about tainted diet pills issued late last month, bringing the total to 69, officials said Wednesday.

"I think it's fair to say that we have a major initiative investigation ongoing into this type of product," Michael Levy, director of the division of new drugs and labeling compliance at the FDA, said in an interview. "We are buying these products, and we are testing them, and we are considering what our options are. There is definitely the possibility that there could be criminal charges."

The pills, using undeclared drugs that may put health at risk, include:
- Sibutramine, the active ingredient in the FDA-approved weight-loss drug Meridia. It's a controlled substance that can cause seizures, heart attack or stroke.

- Rimonabant, the active ingredient in Acomplia, a diet pill that failed to win FDA approval and has been withdrawn in Europe.

- Phenytoin, an anti-seizure medication, and phenolphthalein, a suspected carcinogen. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/07/20090107gns-dietpills07-ON.html

phenolphtalein

--the substance used in acid-base indicators (a.k.a. litmus paper!) is a suspected carcinogen. Something not mentioned in chemistry class when us students handled the paper with fingertips (though the oils turned the paper at the held ends) for testing liquids in labs.

[Speak-Ez]

.
I was going to nail that government fella for his use of the English language, which you regular members know I am infamous for, but it seems to me we have a bigger problem.

We need something before "widens".

When did the FDA first post trouble on these particular ingredients?

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[CielOnTap]

Team Obama will hopefully update the FDA's website to be more user-friendly as it is not obvious without a few wrong clicks to come across the press release.

FDA site indicates the first 28 items were announced on December 22, 2008 (but only updated release is visible). http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01933.html

[CielOnTap]

Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009
'Gyoza' halted by Japan fed to Chinese workers
BEIJING (Kyodo) Chinese-made frozen dumplings recalled after the pesticide-tainted products caused food-poisoning cases in Japan apparently went on to sicken steelmakers in China's Hebei Province, who were given the contaminated "gyoza" for free, company sources and employees said Saturday.

The products, made and recalled by Tianyang Food in Hebei, were delivered to employees of Tangshan Iron and Steel Co. for free from April to May last year, they said.

The steelmaker recalled the dumplings after some of the employees reported they were getting diarrhea and other symptoms of food poisoning, they said. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090125a1.html

The provinical authorities would have to have eaten the dumplings in front of the employees in order to convince them that the food was fine to eat. At least the employees were aware of the food issue and they were mostly able to avoid eating the food.

[fishandchips]

The peanut butter affected products list seems to be getting longer. I am definitely going to keep reading labels to see where my peanut butter and peanut butter cookies come from.

The food concerns of the last several months--are they prompting people to start making more of their own foods, or just be more diligent about reading the news and products labels? Also, the factory employees where the tainted food items are made are having to deal with reduced or no hours plus coping with attention from people who know they work in the factories. Wish everyone has support systems to work through the stresses.

[CielOnTap]

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has added some additional products on its list of items that may contain salmonella from the Georgia factory in the US:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2009/20090202e.shtml

[CielOnTap]

Car seats can kill sleeping babies, coroner warns
Advice follows investigation into death by asphyxiation of two-month-old Quebec boy
LES PERREAUX

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

February 5, 2009 at 4:45 AM EST

MONTREAL — For many parents, the baby's car seat has long been a magical spot where even the fussiest infant would finally drift off to a peaceful slumber.

But a Quebec coroner who examined the sudden death of a two-month-old boy has issued a stark warning: Parents who leave their newborns semi-reclined in car seats for hours on end are putting them at higher risk of sudden death by asphyxiation.

Coroner Jacques Robinson published the warning yesterday in his report on a baby's death in a car seat one year ago at a family home in the Montreal suburb of Pointe-Claire. Car Seats

Given how sudden infant death syndrome can happen without warning, parents need to know what to avoid doing so as not to elevate the syndrome risk. The parents can tell their adult peers and baby caregivers too, so that all are taking the same precautions.

[CielOnTap]

FDA: Peanut Corp. knowingly shipped tainted goods
Feb. 6, 2009 04:24 PM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A Georgia peanut plant knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products as far back as 2007, at times sending out tainted products after tests confirmed contamination, federal health officials said Friday.

Food and Drug Administration officials earlier had said Peanut Corp. of America waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanuts that earlier had tested positive for salmonella. But the agency amended its report Friday, noting that the Blakely, Ga., plant actually shipped some products before receiving the second test and sold others after confirming salmonella.

In 2007 the company shipped chopped peanuts on July 18 and 24 after salmonella was confirmed by private lab tests.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/06/20090206salmonella-outbreak0206-ON.html

[fishandchips]

Shipping a known load of contaminated product likely means that money was needed to recover cost of buying the raw peanuts and the processing costs. Or someone thought no one would be affected.

Loss of credibility results and Georgia loses a company.

[CielOnTap]

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm The FDA list has been updated this past week and you can browse by food product category to see if any items on the list are in your house (or in snack stashes at work or in the car).

Better safe than sorry or sick.