Food Protection Trends - May 2009 - 290

wHAt’S HAPPeNING IN Food SAFety FDA is aware that the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), collaborating with other food industry organizations in a Salmonella Control Task Force, has recently published an industry guidance document concerning programs to control Salmonella and help ensure the safety of lowmoisture food products. Manufacturers that use a peanut-derived product as an ingredient in a food product may find GMA's document useful. FDA is not responsible for the content of GMA’s document. HIV/AIDS, bioterrorism, foodborne illnesses, and other infectious diseases, is world renowned. Dr. Hamburg is also a proven manager, having turned around an ailing and under-resourced health department in New York City, where she restored both morale among workers and the agency’s credibility among its citizens. As top policy advisor to the US Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration, Dr. Hamburg helped craft and implement forward-thinking policies on a wide range of health concerns. She has shown that she can reach across party lines, having worked for both Democratic and Republican mayors in New York City, and across segments of government, industry, and a wide range of community groups. pregnant women. Consumers who may have recently consumed these products and have these symptoms should contact their health care providers. No illnesses are known to be associated with the products at this time. The company is recalling certain products based on sampling and analysis by the FDA that detected Listeria monocytogenes in some of the samples. The company is recalling two lots of its Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese Mexican style soft cheese and one lot of its Queso Cotija Molido Mexican style grated cheese. The Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese comes in a 14-ounce foil wrapped packages marked with lot number 4469 or 4477 affixed to each package on a white sticker and bearing UPC number 8 17424 00024 6 and Plant # 36-8431. The Queso Cotija Molido Cheese comes in 15-ounce clear plastic bags that are marked with UPC number 8 17424 00027 7 and Plant # 36-1388, but do not contain a lot number or production date. Both products were distributed to retail stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Manhattan, and two towns in Pennsylvania (Scranton and Hazelton) in early February. The company has contacted all its customers and instructed them to destroy all affected products in their inventory. Consumers who purchased any of the products are urged to discard them immediately. Although the FDA detected Listeria monocytogenes in only one production date of Peregrina Cheese Corporation's Queso Cotija Molido Cheese, the agency is urging consumers to discard all of these products because they do not contain a lot code or production day code to Appointment of Margaret Hamburg to Lead FDA Lauded by Governor Lowell Weicker t he following is a statement by Governor Lowell Weicker, Jr., former governor and three-term US Senator from Connecticut, and President of the Board of the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) on the appointment of Margaret A. (Peggy) Hamburg, MD, to serve as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Hamburg has served as a TFAH Board Member for the past five-and-a-half years. With this selection, the President is sending a strong signal that the public’s health and safety will be the top priorities of the nation’s largest regulatory agency. Dr. Hamburg has the expertise and judgment needed for this challenging position, and the American people should rest assured that she will always act in their best interests and that her decisions will be grounded in science and evidence. Dr. Hamburg is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leaders in public health and medicine. Her commitment to fighting health threats, ranging from tuberculosis, FDA Warns Consumers about Potentially Contaminated Cheese t he US Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese Mexican style soft cheese (two specific lots) or any Queso Cotija Molido Mexican style grated cheese manufactured and distributed by Peregrina Cheese Corp. of New York City. These products could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in pregnant women, young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria monocytogenes infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among 290 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | MAY 2009

Food Protection Trends - May 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - May 2009