RECALL: Bio Dog raw dog food

Misrad HaChaklaut is warning people not to feed their dogs Bio Dog raw beef dog food that was manufactured on 12 November 2015 and poultry dog food that was manufactured on 19 November 2015.  If you have these products in the house, you should not feed it to your pets and you should call the company for a refund. These products were found to contain Salmonella and Enterobacteriaceae, bacteria which can cause disease in humans.

For more information about pet food and treats—Tips for Keeping People and Pets Healthy and Safe from Salmonella, go to the CDC web site at this link.

Source: Kan-Naim

EXPOSED: Misrad HaBriut exposes unsanitary conditions at Rami Levy, Shufersal, and Mega BaIr

Food Safety Week continues with surprise visits to supermarkets Rami Levy in Jerusalem, Mega BaIr and Shufersal in Tel Aviv.  What they found was not so appealing.  Check out the video on Mako- Arutz 2 or on Misrad HaBriut’s Facebook page.

If you can’t understand the Hebrew, here is a quick summary of what they found:

1. Shufersal (Ben Yehuda Street, Tel Aviv)- expired chicken for sale, selling prepared ground meat (it is only supposed to be ground in front of the customer), unclean refrigerators.
2. Mega Ba’Ir (LaGuardia Street, Tel Aviv)– hasn’t fixed deficiencies noted on previous unsatisfactory inspections, very unsanitary conditions, food not being stored at the proper temperatures.  They will be called in for a hearing in Misrad HaBriut.
3. Rami Levy (Beit HaDfus Street, Jerusalem)– cleaner than the other two stores but stored food on the floors and  had mold on the walls in the warehouse.

During the inspections, samples were taken of the ground meat for microbiological analysis.  The ground chicken from Shufersal and Rami Levy had Salmonella growing and the ground beef from Mega Ba’Ir had a high general bacterial count as well as coliform bacteria– a sign of fecal contamination.

Rami Levy’s response: The deficiencies were apparently due to the pressure of the holidays.  The deficiencies noted in the inspection report were corrected immediately.

Mega BaIr’s response: The report speaks of a specific problem in only one store.  A follow-up inspection by Misrad HaBriut showed that most of the deficiencies were corrected.  Regarding the bacterial testing, that is to be expected in a raw product that must be cooked before eating- it does not affect the quality or safety of the product.

Shufersal’s response: We feel that preserving the quality of our products is of the utmost importance.  We therefore strictly supervise each store to ensure that they comply with Misrad HaBriut’s standards.  We will review the inspection report and correct any deficiency that needs to be corrected.

 

 

Turkish eggs found to have pesticide residues

Misrad HaChaklaut announced today that during a routine test of eggs imported from Turkey, they discovered pesticide residues of an amount that is above the legal limit in Israel.  As a result of this, all imports from that region will be tested for pesticide residues before being released for sale.

Did you know that Israel produces 2 billion eggs a year, and that is still not enough to supply the Israeli public? Israel therefore has to import approximately 150 million eggs a year, especially around Pesach and Rosh HaShanah.  For comparison, the United States produces 75 billion eggs per year and Australia produces 392 million dozen.    To date, eggs are imported into Israel from Turkey, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The Misrad HaChaklaut article doesn’t say what pesticide residue was found or whether this has happened before.  It also doesn’t say what happened to the contaminated eggs- there hasn’t been a recall, so where did they go?  Where they held until the test results came back or did we eat those eggs?  Not a pleasant thought.

The Marker shows a different perspective of the countries that export eggs to Israel:

They also reminded us of the media storm surrounding the importing of eggs from Turkey in 2012 because in Turkey there is no requirement to vaccinate their chickens for Salmonella, as there is in Israel.  At the same time, a study came out in the Poultry Science journal which showed an incidence of 60% Salmonella positive flocks in Turkey, 70% of which being Salmonella Enteritidis, a particularly pathogenic strain of Salmonella that caused a recall of approximately 500 million eggs in the United States in 2010.  Because of this information, pressure was put on Misrad HaChaklaut to enforce the decades-old law which requires egg sorting stations to label which country eggs are produced in.

For more information about eggs in Israel, check out Aliyah tip #1: Understanding eggs (2015 update)

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Misrad HaBriut and Misrad HaChinuch: Don’t reuse egg containers for crafts

Misrad HaBriut publicized new recommendations this week in response to the increased reuse of egg containers for crafts.  Because of the known presence of Salmonella bacteria  in eggs (particularly on the egg shell) and because it is impossible to sufficiently clean egg containers to destroy Salmonella, Misrad HaBriut recommends not to reuse egg containers.  Misrad HaChinuch has adopted this recommendation and forbids the reuse of egg containers in educational institutions.

Misrad HaBriut expands the recommendation of Misrad HaChinuch to include rehabilitation centers, old age homes, hospitals, and psychiatric centers.

You can read the directive on the Misrad HaBriut web site (Hebrew).

For more information about reducing your risk of Salmonella from eggs, go to the CDC web site.

RECALL- Irena brand kreplach “Ukrainski”

As part of its regular testing, Misrad HaBriut found the presence of Salmonella bacteria in “Ukrainski” kreplach (meat-filled dough), manufactured 2 Oct 2013 and sold in 800 gram packages.

Salmonella can cause serious illness but is destroyed when the product is fully cooked.

As a precautionary measure, Misrad HaBriut is advising consumers not to eat this product and return it to the store where it was purchased.

Source

Irena was the subject of another recall in February because of Salmonella- that time in stuffed cabbage.

Compare Israel’s reaction to the FDA regarding the latest Salmonella recall:

“While it is not unusual for raw poultry from any producer to have Salmonella bacteria, it is uncommon to have multidrug-resistant Salmonella bacteria. CDC and USDA-FSIS recommend consumers and retailers follow these food safety tips to prevent Salmonella infection from raw poultry produced by Foster Farms or any other brand…” – CDC web site

In other words- no recall.