Contaminated confectionery news roundup
meat and fresh produce, confectionery food scares have recently
broken out in the US, China and Russia.
Kraft pulls chocolate over salmonella fears Global food giants are not spared the spectre of deadly food-borne pathogens, as Kraft has issued a recall in the US for Baker's Premium White Chocolate Baking Squares. The company was forced to recall the chocolates after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detected the presence of the Salmonella pathogen, Kraft said Wednesday. According to company spokesperson Cathy Pernu, to date no consumer has fallen ill after consuming the product, and Kraft is "aggressively investigating the source of the problem". "This recall is only for Baker's Premium White Chocolate Baking Squares," Pernu said. "No other varieties of Baker's White Chocolate or any other Baker's products sold in the United States are impacted by this recall." Symptoms of food-borne illness caused by Salmonella include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, and in some cases the pathogen is fatal. Kraft is the third chocolate manufacturer to have been struck with a salmonella scandal, as Hershey and Cadbury have both also had to recall contaminated chocolate products in recent years. Chinese candies poison pupils China's food safety policies yesterday hit the headlines once again after more than 30 school children had to be taken to hospital after eating Chinese Ube milk candies on the Philippine island Bantayan. According to the Philippines newspaper Sun Star, 37 pupils from the same school all fell ill with food poisoning, after one of them had brought the sweets in to share as a birthday sweet. All of the pupils felt nauseous after eating the product, and four were given intravenous fluids. Despite China's promises to tighten its watch on food products all along the food chain, the provenance of the sweets seems unclear, and local authorities have only traced the product to a market in Cebu City. However, authorities have now pulled all known sales of the product, the newspaper said. Local councilor Marlon Pacana told the Sun Star that samples of the candies have been submitted to the Bureau of Food and Drugs for examination, and that there will be a careful examination into how contaminated sweets from China made their way into the Philippine food chain. Chocolate dairy drinks not so sweet Children in Russia are not immune to chocolate menaces any more than those in Asia, as local news reports reveal that several kindergarten pupils suffered acute abdominal pains after drinking an undisclosed chocolaty treat. A total of 261 children have fallen ill in the Georgiyevsk District, 56 of whom, mostly kindergarteners, were in need of immediate medical treatment, according to Novosti, a Russian news and information agency. The exact origins of the outbreak are still unknown, the agency said, but are linked to a wave of food poisoning outbreaks affecting children across the country.
