California Firms Recall Onions Because Of Possible Salmonella Contamination

Yet another recall has been announced because of worries over salmonella-contaminated food products. Two California companies have recalled thousands of cases of green onions, over fears that the produce could be contaminated with salmonella.

The first company Salinas-based Steinbeck Country Produce, is recalling green onions that were grown and imported from Mexicali in Mexico. The cases of green onions were shipped between August 4th and August 22nd 2009, and came with lot code numbers 96CPGO07 or 9CPO937. The recall includes 3,360 cartons of two pound, 24 bunch and 12 bunch bags of iceless green onions under the label "Nature's Reward." The onions were distributed in California, Texas, Massachusetts, Indiana, New York, Arizona, Michigan, Missouri and Kansas. The salmonella contamination was traced during inspections conducted by the US Department of Agriculture. USDA inspectors conducted a routine test in New York last month, and found traces of salmonella contamination in cases of onions.

The other company, Ocean Mist Farms, is recalling 1,746 cases of iceless green onions after inspections showed traces of salmonella contamination. There is no information yet on where Ocean Mist Farms distributed its onions.

The recalls come at a time when there is increased focus on food safety. This week, the Food and Drug Administration launched the Reportable Food Registry (RFR), an electronic portal for companies to report when there is a "reasonable probability" that a food item or product can cause serious health effects. According to the FDA, any registered food facility that is engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing or holding foods for human or animal consumption, is required to report whenever there is such a risk of adverse health consequences from contaminated food. Under the laws, the food processing, packaging, storing and manufacturing industry must report to the FDA within 24 hours of identifying a significant health risk from food products. Approximately, 85 percent of food supplies in the country are covered under these laws.

Lawmakers have been engaged in hectic efforts to pass stronger food safety laws after a string of food poisoning scandals left several people dead, and hundreds injured, many of them hospitalized for their injuries. Most of these poisoning epidemics were related to salmonella contamination. Hundreds of people fell sick at the beginning of this year when contaminated peanuts from a processing plant in Georgia found their way into peanut butter products that were supplied to establishments. Soon after, a salmonellosis epidemic was traced to contaminated pistachio nuts processed by a California company. Last year, salmonella contamination was traced to produce also manufactured by a California company. A few months ago, dozens of people became sick with E.coli poisoning, after eating prepackaged and refrigerated raw cookie dough from Nestle.

Every year, 76 million Americans fall sick from tainted foods. Most of these cases will not require hospitalization, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 325,000 of these people will be sick enough to have to be hospitalized. An estimated 5,000 deaths are reported every year from food poisoning illnesses. That's too high a number to digest, and California food poisoning lawyers will be hoping that the FDA's new food contamination reporting system will reduce those numbers.