Intertek acquires Alchemy

Intertek to Acquire Alchemy

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Intertek acquires Alchemy

Today Intertek Group plc announced its intent to acquire Alchemy Investment Holdings, Inc. (more commonly known as Alchemy). The company points to Alchemy’s People Assurance solutions for the food industry as playing a role in promoting operational excellence and helping to identify critical skill gaps in frontline employees, especially as supply chains and distribution channels increase in complexity. Intertek provides assurance solutions that help companies identify and mitigate risk in operations, supply and distribution chains, and quality management systems. The company believes the addition of Alchemy will strengthen its global offerings.

“Alchemy’s unique focus on frontline workforce training is critical for safety and operational execution. Our combined solution will provide companies with a higher level of quality assurance and with greater peace of mind.” – André Lacroix, Intertek Group

Alchemy is owned by The Riverside Company, a private equity company, and will be bought for a cash consideration of $480 million on a cash-free and debt-free basis, according to Intertek. The company intends to maintain its current focus and its management team will stay. “Alchemy does not plan to change its brand, its focus on frontline workers or the food industry, or to scale down its operations — to the contrary, this purchase only fuels more growth,” an Alchemy spokesperson stated in an email to Food Safety Tech. “Intertek’s client list and market access will give Alchemy additional global reach.”

US Foods

$1.8 Billion Cash Deal: US Foods to Acquire SGA’s Food Group of Companies

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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US Foods

This week US Foods Holding Corp announced a deal to acquire the five operating companies, SGA’s Food Group of Companies, for $1.8 billion in cash. SGA’s food companies are Food Services of America, Inc., Systems Services of America, Inc., Amerifresh, Inc., Ameristar Meats, Inc., and GAMPAC Express, Inc. Collectively these companies provide services that include food service for casual and fast casual dining, distribution, produce sourcing and marketing, custom meats, and supply chain planning and logistics.

“This acquisition will significantly increase US Foods’ reach across key markets in the attractive and growing Northwest region of the U.S. and adds one of the most well-regarded regional distributors to our company,” said US Foods Chairman and CEO Pietro Satriano in a company release.

In addition to expanding US Foods’ footprint in the Northwest, the company will leverage the scale of SGA’s Food Group of Companies, which have nearly 33,000 customers, 12 distribution centers and more than 20 private brands. US Foods estimates it will achieve $55 million in annual run-rate cost synergies by the end of FY 2022 as a result of savings in administrative expenses, distribution and procurement.

Question mark

Return of FSMA IQ Test: Part II

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Question mark

Two years ago, Food Safety Tech published a series of six FSMA IQ tests to “test” industry’s knowledge about FSMA. It seemed appropriate, as at that point in time, folks still had a lot of unanswered questions. Now that we have a couple of years under our belt, how much to we know? We will publish each section of the test every week for the next six weeks. Then at this year’s Food Safety Consortium, the creators of the test–Bill Bremer, principal of food safety compliance at Kestrel Management, LLC and his team–will compare 2016 vs. 2018 during an interactive session. And if you have questions or comments on any of the elements brought up in the IQ test, please include them comments section below the test, so Bremer’s team can address them either live on our site or during the Consortium session.

Take Part I here. 

Create your own user feedback survey

Question mark

Return of FSMA IQ Test: Part I

By Food Safety Tech Staff
No Comments
Question mark

Two years ago, Food Safety Tech published a series of six FSMA IQ tests to “test” industry’s knowledge about FSMA. It seemed appropriate, as at that point in time, folks still had a lot of unanswered questions. Now that we have a couple of years under our belt, how much do we know? We will publish each section of the test every week for the next six weeks. Then at this year’s Food Safety Consortium, the creators of the test–Bill Bremer, principal of food safety compliance at Kestrel Management, LLC and his team–will compare 2016 vs. 2018 during an interactive session. And if you have questions or comments on any of the elements brought up in the IQ test, please include them comments section below the test, so Bremer’s team can address them either live on our site or during the Consortium session.

Good luck!

Create your own user feedback survey

Mondelez, Pepperidge Farm

Whey Powder and Salmonella: Mondelēz Ritz Crackers, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers Among Recalls

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Mondelez, Pepperidge Farm

Yesterday Mondelēz Global, LLC announced a voluntary recall of certain Ritz cracker sandwiches and Ritz Bits products sold in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The products contain whey powder, which the company’s supplier recalled due to concern of the presence of Salmonella.

On Friday, the USDA’s FSIS issued a public health alert for products containing whey powder manufactured by Associated Milk Producers, Inc.. The company issued a voluntary recall. The product associated with this specific alert is frozen microwavable “Hungry Man Chipotle BBQ sauced boneless chicken WYNGZ” dinners, produced by Pinnacle Foods, Inc. The issued was uncovered by the company when Associated Milk Producers notified them that its recalled whey powder ingredient was user in the ranch dressing it supplied to Pinnacle Foods. The ingredient was used in mashed potatoes as a component of the frozen chicken dinner.

More companies initiated voluntary recalls as result of the potential Salmonella contamination involving the whey protein. Pepperidge Farm recalled four varieties of its Goldfish Crackers. The company has an extensive list of the products with packaging labeling to assist consumers with identifying the product(s) of concern. Yesterday Flowers Foods recalled its Swiss Rolls and Captain John Derst’s Old Fashioned Bread.

Thus far, no illnesses related to the above recalls have been reported.

Del Monte

Cyclospora Infections Linked to Del Monte Veggie Trays Surpasses 230

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Del Monte

The latest report from CDC puts the laboratory-confirmed case count of cyclosporiasis in people who reportedly consumed contaminated Del Monte trays at 237. The infections are in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Seven people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.

More than one month ago, Del Monte recalled 6- ,12-, and 28-ounce vegetable trays containing broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and dill dip. The products were sold to Kwik Trip, Kwik Star, Demond’s, Sentry, Potash, Meehan’s, Country Market, FoodMax Supermarket and Peapod. According to an FDA update, Del Monte is also recalling 28-ounce veggie trays that were distributed to Illinois and Indiana.

FDA, CDC and other federal agencies continue to investigate the multistate outbreak. They are advising that the vegetable trays are neither sold nor consumed.

More information is available on the CDC website.

Alert

Drug-Resistant Salmonella in Raw Turkey Products: 90 Ill

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Alert

Today USDA’s FSIS issued an update about a multistate outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Reading illnesses that have been linked to raw turkey products. Thus far 90 people in 26 states have been infected with the strain. Forty people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.

A single source of the outbreak has yet to be identified. However, the CDC states that this strain of Salmonella is present in live turkeys and many types of raw turkey products, so “it might be widespread in the turkey industry”.

“33 isolates from ill people and 49 isolates from food and animal samples contained genes for resistance to all or some of the following antibiotics: ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, gentamicin, and kanamycin. Testing of four outbreak isolates using standard antibiotic susceptibility testing by CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory confirmed these results. This resistance likely will not affect the choice of antibiotic used to treat most people since these antibiotics are not normally used to treat Salmonella infections.” – CDC

The illnesses began on November 20, 2017 to June 29, 2018. Officials are using PulseNet to identify illnesses that might be part of the outbreak.

Stephen Ostroff, FDA

Too Many Recent Outbreaks, FDA Says Significant Food Safety Problems Continue

By Maria Fontanazza
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Stephen Ostroff, FDA

The serious outbreaks over the past few months indicate that industry continues to experience “significant food safety problems”, said Stephen Ostroff, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the IAFP annual meeting last week. He referred to the most recent sizable produce-associated outbreaks involving romaine lettuce, pre-cut melon and veggie trays, as well as the Kellogg Company recall of Honey Smacks cereal and the Rose Acres eggs recall, both of which were due to Salmonella. “We have a lot of work to do,” said Ostroff, adding that the numerous recalls involving kratom products is concerning.

These issues highlight how the increasingly complex supply chain further complicates problems once they arise. Ostroff emphasized the necessity of end-to-end tracing, from product origination to where the consumer can access the product, and that it needs to be efficient, standardized and rapid, especially for commodities. Regarding the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak involving romaine lettuce, FDA is still trying to determine the source and mode of the contamination. And while the recent finding of the outbreak strain in the irrigation canal water is important, it still does not answer the question of how the contamination got into the canal, said Ostroff.

The latest FDA update on the outbreak investigation stated that additional samples are being analyzed on an ongoing basis and any new matches would be publicly disclosed. As of June 28, the CDC announced that the outbreak was over.

Kellogg's

Despite Recall, Some Retailers Still Selling Kellogg’s Honey Smacks

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Kellogg's

Today FDA issued an alert after becoming aware that some retailers are still selling Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal, which was recalled in June following a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Mbandaka infections linked to the product. No deaths have been reported, but 100 people in 33 states have become ill, with 30 hospitalizations, according to the CDC.

“Retailers cannot legally offer the cereal for sale and consumers should not purchase Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal,” FDA stated in its update about the agency’s outbreak investigation.

3M Molecular detection system

USDA FSIS Awards 3M Food Safety with Contract for Pathogen Testing

3M Molecular detection system
3M Molecular detection system
3M Molecular detection system

USDA FSIS has awarded a contract to 3M Food Safety for its pathogen detection instruments and kits. 3M’s molecular detection system will be the primary method used by the agency to detect Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157. The technology combines isothermal DNA amplification and bioluminescence detection for a fast, accurate and simple solution that also tackles some of the constraints of PCR methods. Users can concurrently run up to 96 different tests for many organisms across food and environmental samples.