Prepare for what may the largest food recall in North American history

by Spence Cooper on 03/11/10 at 11:46 am

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Be careful on what you eat, HVP alert!

**Update** : Here is the list of the HVP Salmonella Tainted Foods &...

A large batch of the flavor enhancer known as hydrolyzed vegetable protein or HVP, supplied by Basic Food Flavors, a North Las Vegas food ingredient company, was found to be laced with salmonella. Thus far,
over one hundred products containing the ingredient have been recalled
in both the U.S. and Canada. The company produces about 20 million
pounds of the food additive annually.

Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union, the advocacy group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, told Bloomberg that this case may trigger the recall of as many as 10,000 products. To be sure, HVP is used in virtually everything that is packaged or canned
— 10,000 products may be a conservative estimate.

Canwest News reports that in Canada, consumers could be exposed to the contaminated batch through imported pre-packaged foods or items manufactured north of the border
using the ingredient.

Michael Armstrong, a quality management specialist at Brock University’s faculty of business said this case is particularly challenging because the raw material is likely considered a generic commodity. This means a food manufacturer might
buy HVP from many different suppliers over time, wherever it is
cheapest, and store it all together without establishing an efficient
trace-back system to a particular source or batch. “It’s the kind of
ingredient that’s the hardest to trace,” said Armstrong.

The FDA claims they began discussions with Basic Food Flavors regarding the firm’s intentions to conduct a voluntary recall of the HVP the company had
made on or after September 17. On Feb. 26, 2010, Basic Food Flavors
began notifying its customers that it was recalling all of the HVP
product made since September 17.

On March 4, 2010, Basic Food Flavors — who offers the food industry 120 varieties of hydrolyzed vegetable protein or HVP — announced a recall of its entire production dating to September 17, 2009. The Food
and Drug Administration is continuously updating the recall list at www.foodsafety.gov.

Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) is an MSG-like flavor enhancer that is mixed in with other spices, and added to thousands of processed foods, including chips, dip mixes, salad dressings, sauces, hotdogs,
soups, frozen dinners, bouillons, gravy mixes, snacks, and ready-to-eat
foods. And unless HVP is part of a flavor mix, HVP may not be listed as
an ingredient on a food package.

Among some of the brand name items recalled are Quaker Crispy Minis rice cakes in tomato and basil, Family’s Best smokey bacon potato chips, Healthwise Cream of Mushroom Soup, two flavors of Pringles
potato crips, kettle-style chips, and honey mustard/onion pretzels.
According to Wal-Mart spokeswoman Anna Taylor, Wal-Mart’s Great Value
Ranch Chip Dip, manufactured by T. Marzetti Co. of Columbus, Ohio, has
been pulled from their shelves.

Two most recently added items are 1.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef taquito and chicken quesadilla products from a Houston firm, and
115,700 pounds of Tornados Ranchero Beef & Cheese roll-ups, made by
Ruiz Foods of Denison, Texas.

Bloomberg reports that PepsiCo Inc. voluntarily recalled about 275,000 packages of Quaker Snack Mix Baked Cheddar in the U.S. And PepsiCo has joined Procter
& Gamble Co., Nestle SA and McCormick & Co. in recalling
products that contained HVPthe flavor protein, says Bloomberg.

“It’s a wake-up call for the food industry as a whole to be more thorough in evaluating the safety of ingredients,” said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. “Big companies are putting their trust in suppliers, which is their
Achilles heel.”

Dan Flynn with Food Safely News claims the food ingredient company responsible, Basic Food Flavors, relocated to North Las Vegas after encountering too many regulatory
obstacles in Pomona, California.

According to FDA inspection records, managers at Basic Food Flavors in Las Vegas learned on Jan. 21st that samples taken a week earlier from their Nevada facility tested positive for salmonella, but they
continued shipping their product to foodmakers anyway.

The Washington Post reports Basic Food Flavors tested surfaces near food-processing equipment throughout its plant twice in January and once in February, and each
time the samples showed salmonella contamination. The company continued
to ship products and to make more HVP without cleaning the plant or the
equipment in a way that would have minimized contamination, the FDA
records said.

“The contamination is believed to date to September 2009, meaning millions of pounds of potentially tainted HVP — all of which the company has recalled — was shipped in bulk to foodmakers over five
months. Many of those companies then sold their products to other
clients, complicating the distribution chain and making it hard for
federal officials to gauge the scope of the problem.”

FDA spokeswoman Meghan Scott says “The FDA is reviewing the evidence in association with the current inspection of Basic Food Flavors to determine the appropriate
regulatory response.”

**Update** : Here is the list of the HVP Salmonella Tainted Foods &...

List of items in HVP Recall

by Antonio on 03/12/10 at 5:49 am

The FDA has compiled a list of the products involved in the 2010 Basic Food Flavors, Inc. HVP (hydrolyzed vegetable protein) recall. We’ll keep you updated as more items come to light. This list was the
latest available at the time from the FDA website. We recommend to
check FoodSafety.gov often for updates, we are certain that this list
will keep growing.

So far there have been no reports of people being sickened from salmonella from Basic Food Flavor’s HVP. It looks like the FDA caught the problem before anyone got sick.

Most of us have not heard of HVP even though it is in most products found on supermarket shelves. HVP is short for hydrolyzed vegetable protein. It is used to add flavor to a great number of processed foods
including but not limited to soups, hot dogs, chilis, stews, dips,
salad dressings, gravies, frozen dinners, and lots of snack foods.

For some background on the HVP food recall story go here >>

Below is the list of products that are affected:

Soup/Soup Mix and Dip/Dip Mix Products

Johnny’s Fine Foods

French Dip Powder Au Jus in 6oz bottle and 1.1oz foil packets

T. Marzetti

Southwest Ranch Veggie Dip

Fat Free Southwest Ranch Veggie Dip

Spinach Veggie Dip

Spinach Veggie Dip, Epinards, Trempette A Legumes

Southwest Ranch Veggie Dip, Ranch style sud-ouest americain

Trempette A Legumes

Oak Lake Farms

French Onion Chip Dip

Great Value

Ranch Chip Dip

Castella

Chicken Soup Base 1 lb. plastic jar

Chicken Soup Base 25 lb. white bucket

Homemade Gourmet

Tortilla Soup Mix 1.96 oz packages

Tortilla Soup Mix 1.96 oz (55.6 g) pouch part of Let’s Make Dinner Collection

Tortilla Soup Mix 1.96 oz (55.6 g) pouch

Follow Your Heart

Beef Al Jus

Reser’s

Creamy Ranch Dip

Clam Dip

French Onion Dip

Cheese and Bacon Dip

Creamy Ranch Dip 8lb carton and 4oz plastic cup

Ranch Dip

Concord Foods

Foods Vegetable Dip Seasoning – Homestyle

McCormick

French Onion Dip Mix

Vegetable Dip Mix

Delicioso

Spinach Dip

De la Casa

Spinach Dip

Rojo’s

Garden Fresh Spinach Dip

Fresh Food Concepts

Garden Fresh Spinach Dip

Fresh Food Concepts

Spinach Dip with Real Yogurt

Healthwise

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Dean’s

Creamy Taco Dip

Green Onion Dip

Ranch Dip

Guacamole Dip in 12oz & 18 oz

Zesty Guacamole Dip in 12oz & 18 oz

French Onion Dip in 8oz & 16 oz

French Onion w/Bacon Dip in 8oz & 16 oz

Publix

Beef Flavored Stew Mix

Kroger

Onion Soup & Dip Mix

Beefy Onion Soup & Dip Mix

Mrs. Gerry’s

Crab Creole Spread

Old Fashioned Spinach Dip in 12/12oz & 2.5lb plastic container

Old Home Spinach Dip

Snack and Snack Mix

Hawaiian

Kettle Style Potato Chips – Sweet Maui Onion in 1, 1.5, 2, 5, 8, 18 & 32 ounce bags

Kettle Style Potato Chips – Sweet Maui Onion in 2 ounce, 15 pack

Kettle Style Potato Chips – Sweet Maui Onion in 70, 210 & 908 grams bag

Sweet Maui Onion Rings in 1.5, & 4 ounce bags

Sweet Maui Onion Rings

HK Anderson

Honey Mustard Pretzel Bites

CVS

Honey Mustard Pretzel Bites

President’s Choice

Honey Mustard Onion Pretzel Bite

Safeway

Honey Mustard Onion Nugget

Sunflower Markets

Honey Mustard Nugget

National Pretzel Company

Honey Mustard Onion Pretzel Bites

Whole Grain Honey Mustard Nuggets

Great Nut Supply

Honey Mustard Pretzels

Bar Mix

Spec’s Wines & Fine Foods

Honey Mustard Pretzels

Bar Mix

Honey Cheddar Mix

Rouses Louisiana’s Best

Bar Mix

Herr’s

Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt Flavored Kettle Style Potato Chips

Pringles

Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger

Family Faves Taco Night

Quaker

Snack Mix Baked Cheddar

Ready-to-Eat Meal

Follow Your Heart

BBQ Braised Tofu

Cheezy Garlic Pasta

Curried Tofu

Curried Tofu with Rice

Heartsmart Burger

Kung Pao Tofu

Kung Pao Tofu with Rice

Savory Tofu Saute

Smoked “Chicken” Pasta

Sweet & Sour Tofu

Thai Peanut Tofu

Thai Peanut Tofu Wrap

Thai Peanut Braised Tofu

Texas Tofu

Veggie Burrito with Cheese

Low Fat Veggie Burrito

Dressing and Dressing Mix

Follow Your Heart

Organic Creamy Ranch Dressing

Trader Joe’s

Organic Creamy Ranch Dressing & Dip

Reser’s

Ranch House Dressing

Prepared Salad

Reser’s

Redskin Potato Safeway

Potato RedSkin Walmart

Redskin Potato

Bouillon/Stuffing/Marinades/Mixes

Herbox

Beef Bouillon

Chicken Bouillon

Vegetable Bouillon

Gravy Mix

McCormick

Onion Gravy Mix

Publix

Mushroom Gravy Mix

McCormick

Corn Bread Stuffing

Sauce and Marinade Mix

French’s

Thick Spaghetti Sauce Mix

Durkee

Thick and Rich Spaghetti Sauce Mix

Grill Creations Marinade Mix Italian Herb

Weber

Grill Creations Italian Herb Marinade Mix

Flavoring Base and Seasoning

Garden Harvest

Special Blend Seasoning

Minor’s

Bacon Base

Publix

Meatloaf Seasoning

Frozen Food

Tornados

Ranchero Beef & Cheese

Giant Eagle

Steak Taquitos

Jose Ole

Taquitos–Shredded Steak Rolled in Corn Tortillas

Beef Taquitos

El Pasado

Beef Taquitos

Shredded Beef Mini Taquitos

Grilled Chicken Quesadillas Grilled White Meat Chicken, Cheese & Salsa Folded in a Flour Tortilla

Casa Solana

Shredded Beef Mini Taquitos

E-Z Eats!

Beef Taquitos

Posada

Taquitos Corn Shredded Beef