Aliya's Food Limited, a Canadian exporter of Indian food products, announced Monday that it has issued a recall of 4,865 pounds of frozen butter chicken and rice products on fears of listeria contamination.

Following suit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced a public alert because affected products were imported to the United States and sold at the Trader Joe's chain of grocery stores in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington D.C.

The tainted products are: "12.5 oz boxes of "Trader Joe's Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice" with product code "2012-10-31" and lot code "30512."
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An analysis in the January 2013 issue of Consumer Reports magazine revealed 69% of pork chops and ground pork that the organization sampled from around the U.S. tested positive for Yersinia enterocolitica, a bacteria that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), can result in fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Consumer Reports also found 3-7% of the samples harbored salmonella, staphylococcus aureus or listeria monocytogenes, other common pathogens for foodborne illness. Twenty-three percent of the samples contained none of the tested bacteria.

Of the 198 samples, the organization found other alleged complications with the "other white meat." The sampling also claims that some of the bacteria were resistant to typical antibiotics that are used to treat foodborne illnesses, such as amoxicillin, penicillin, tetracycline and streptomycin. Of the 132 samples with Yersinia enterocolitica, 121 of those were resistant to one or more antibiotics.

"The frequent use of low-dose antibiotics in pork farming may be accelerating the growth of drug-resistant 'superbugs' that threaten human health," said Consumer Reports.
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Despite sweeping reform of food safety laws intended to make what we eat less dangerous, the number of Americans falling ill or dying from contaminated food has increased 44% in the past two years alone, according to a report released Wednesday.

Tainted cantaloupe, unsafe mangoes, meat and the recent peanut butter recall - which so far has infected 25 people, mostly children, in 19 states - has left consumers struggling to keep up with the dizzying list of ever-changing toxic edibles.
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Dale and Thomas Popcorn is voluntarily recalling bags of its flavored, ready-to-eat Indiana-brand products due to a possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
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Food recalls are coming in fast and furious and it's often hard to keep track. This is the second in a series of recall round-ups in which we'll share the most up-to-date information on the foods you should be scrutinizing right now.
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Food recalls are coming in fast and furious and it's often hard to keep track. This is the first in a series of recall round-ups in which we'll share the most up-to-date information on the foods you should be scrutinizing right now.

Peanut butter

Sunland, Inc., the manufacturer of Trader Joe’s Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter which was recalled last week due to possible salmonella contamination, has expanded the recall to include all of its Almond Butter and Peanut Butter products manufactured between May 1, 2012 and September 24, 2012.
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The Kroger chain of grocery stores announced Tuesday that it has issued a voluntary recall of bagged spinach on fears of listeria contamination.
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For the last 20 years, attorney Bill Marler has represented victims of nearly every large foodborne illness outbreak in the United States, securing $600,000,000 for victims of E. coli, Salmonella, and other illnesses linked to tainted food. Marler is an outspoken advocate for food safety, and maintains the Food Safety Site and the award-winning Marler Blog.

He's picked up a safety tip or two along the way - as well as a definitive personal do-not-eat list.

Bill Marler: 6 tips for safer food shopping, storage, preparation and buying
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An outbreak of illness linked to consumption of tainted ricotta salata cheese has been linked to 3 deaths and 14 hospitalizations in 11 states, according to a release on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website.

The outbreak - blamed on the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes - is possibly linked to consumption of Frescolina brand ricotta salata from Forever Cheese lot #T9425 and/or production code 441202. The cheese was sold to distributors for retailers and restaurants in California, Colorado, Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington between June 20 and August 9, 2012. The company has issued a voluntary recall.
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Travelers are on pins and needles after news that six instances of the latter had been discovered in turkey sandwiches on four separate Delta Air Lines flights from Amsterdam to the United States on Sunday. One injury was reported, and the FBI, along with Dutch authorities, have begun a criminal investigation into the origins of the implement. The airline is, for the time being, serving prepackaged foods on flights from the routes involved.

This is not the first time that airline food has come under scrutiny for hazards other than terminal dullness.
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