Food recalls are coming in fast and furious and it's often hard to keep track. In this series of recall round-ups we share the most up-to-date information on the foods you should be scrutinizing right now.
IKEA Meatballs
Doing a bit of shopping and snacking abroad? You might wish to grab lunch before you go to IKEA. The Swedish furniture chain has pulled 1675 pounds of meatballs from the menus of some of its in-store cafeterias across Europe after tests in the Czech Republic revealed the presence of horse meat in some samples.
A press release on the manufacturer's website says that the company will be performing more DNA testing and further information will be available in a few days. Stores in the United States use a different supplier and were unaffected.
The news is just the latest in the ongoing crisis over the unadvertised and unexplained presence of horse DNA in beef products sold across Europe. Read more on the story.
King Arthur Flour
The Food and Drug Administration reports that King Arthur Flour is voluntarily recalling a limited number of its bags of flour due to the possible presence of small blue polyurethane balls that are used in the sifting process. According to the agency's website, "The balls have a smooth surface and no sharp edges and are made from food grade material. Because of their bright blue color and size (about half the diameter of a dime), they are easily seen in the flour."
Specific lot numbers can be found on the King Arthur website. Consumers may return affected products to the point of purchase for a full refund and call the King Arthur Flour Consumer Hotline at 866-797-9178 Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET.
In further flour news, Dakota Specialty Milling also announced a voluntary recall of the company's specialty flours and grain blends due to the possible presence of fragments of thin metal wire from a defective screen on one of its manufacturing lines. The company supplies ingredients to brands of variety breads, cereals, crackers, granola, and nutrition bars but does not sell directly to the public.
belVita Breakfast Biscuit
More metal, more problems. Mondelēz Global LLC issued a voluntary recall of belVita Breakfast Biscuit product, Apple Cinnamon and Chocolate varieties in the United States, including Puerto Rico following notification from a third-party supplier that fragments of flexible metal mesh may be present due to a faulty screen at their facility. (Is there an echo in here?)
Consumers are advised to discard any products they may have and contact the company at 1-877-799-5633 24 hours a day to get more information about the recall.
Food Club Red Enchilada Sauce
Red sauce go! Wait...no. Bruce Foods Corporation issued a voluntary recall of cans of 10-ounce Food Club Red Enchilada Sauce that may instead contain Green Enchilada Sauce. The green version contains wheat and soy and may pose a risk to allergy sufferers.
Consumers who have purchased the Food Club Red Enchilada Sauce with code GES 462449 with a Best Before Date: 12/03/2016 should return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. They may also contact Larry Thibodeaux at Bruce Foods at 1-337-365-8101, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.
Consumer resources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Food and Drug Administration's Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts
FDA Food Safety
FoodSafety.gov
United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety Education
IsItDoneYet.gov
More on food poisoning from CNN Health and all foodborne illness coverage on Eatocracy
Previously:
How sprouts make you sick
The other E. coli threat? Raw milk
What? Chicken butt. Why there's salmonella in your eggs
Tainted food – a sticky situation for airline travelers
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Great blog right here! Also your website a lot up very fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link in your host? I wish my web site loaded up as quickly as yours lol
Heee-haaaw!
Well they say you are what you eat, but i still say it does not make any sense that you have so many people i mean so many people dying of cancer and i do think its something that there putting in this food .For those who dont know what G E stands for than you better ask somebody,thank you.
I like horse meat. : )
Ummm nom nom
The ground or chipped "beef" in processed foods is always the lowest grade - often from dairy cows that are sent to slaughter because they are too old or unwell to produce milk. You should be worried about eating it at all, not whether it's horse.
Yeah, the horse meat thing is odd, but what ever happened to the food on airplanes that had sharp objects in them???? I never heard of a follow up on that??? As usual, never a follow up. Wasn't it needles in people's sandwiches???
I didn't know "polyurethane" could be "food-grade"!
I don't understand the obsession with horse meat...we eat far worse things in our processed food diets. At least this is a source of protein. It's just taboo because we think it's cute.
The problem was that some packages labled "beef" were 10% or more, and a few cases, 100% horse meat. That was improper labeling. There is nothing wrong with generic breakfast food either.. But when they place generic products in boxes saying General Mills Cheerios, then it is being mislabled.
If the horse meat was intended for human consumption, the only medical issue would be possible allergies. In these cases, it is not clear that these animals were raised for human consumption and may have been given drugs and have illnesses that could be harmful to humans.
Why would anyone trust meatballs sold by a furniture store?
Says the person who's obviously never tried them.
True.
Because they are amazing.
IKEA meatballs are yummy, I don't care if they're made of 100% horse but tholes.
The ultimate endorsement? I guess the fact that I've never bought a piece of Ikea furniture or been to their store is because I've never heard of the meatballs?
Agreed! Hickory smoked even!!
(your comment made me happy.)
What's wrong with horse meat?
nothing at all, salami has horse meat in it, horse meat is usually more expensive than beef also.
That may be true. After all... horses run much faster than cows, so are probably much tougher to catch and kill. Thats why rednecks go cow tipping, but not horse tipping! :)
When my girlfriend goes away on business, I have the same problem – little blue balls.
You're a big boy. You know what to do.
How do you know for sure that she goes away for "business"?
Perhaps pleasure is her business.
Uuuuuuuhh. Couldn't go with 'blue pellets', eh? I see where your mind is at!!!!!
Pellets have a different shape. Balls are spheres.
True dat