Tag Archives: ConAgra

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FDA Announces Upcoming Webinars on Food Safety Culture and “Healthy” Food Labeling

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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The FDA has announced two upcoming webinars for food manufacturers and industry stakeholders. On Friday, October 21, 2022, at 1:00 pm ET, the FDA will provide an overview of its proposed rule to update the definition of “healthy” nutrient content claims for food products. The “healthy” claim acts as a quick signal on food package labels to identify foods that will help consumers build healthy eating patterns.

The FDA has proposed changes to the definition of “healthy” to align with current nutrition science, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 and the updated Nutrition Facts label. The guidance also includes the agency’s intent to exercise enforcement discretion with respect to the implied nutrient content claim “healthy” for foods that have a fat profile of predominantly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, but do not meet the regulatory definition of “low fat,” and on foods that contain at least 10% of the daily value (DV) per reference amount customarily consumed of potassium or vitamin D.

Speakers include:

  • Janesia Robbs, Communications and Public Engagement Staff, FDA CFSAN
  • Dr. Claudine Kavanaugh, Director, Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling (ONFL), FDA CFSAN
  • Dr. Sarah Gebauer, Nutritionist, Nutrition Science Review Branch, ONFL, FDA CFSAN
  • Vincent DeJesus, Nutritionist, Nutrition Assessment & Evaluation Branch, ONFL, FDA CFSAN

Registration is required. Register here.

On Wednesday, October 26, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm ET, the FDA and Stop Foodborne Illness, a nonprofit public health organization, will be host their fifth collaborative webinar, titled “Rewards and Recognition Programs.” Guest speakers will share their experiences in establishing rewards programs that drive positive food safety culture. Speakers include:

  • Shawn Fear, Director of Quality, Conagra Brands
  • Danielle Richardson, Director of Food Safety, Conagra Brands
  • Lone Jespersen, Principal and Founder, Cultivate, SA
  • Donald Prater, Associate Commissioner for Imported Food Safety, FDA
  • Conrad Choiniere, PhD, Director of the Office of Analytics and Outreach, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)
  • Vanessa Coffman, Director, Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, Stop Foodborne Illness

Those who would like to attend the webinar can register here.

 

Duncan Hines cake mix, recall

Duncan Hines Recalls Cake Mixes After Finding Salmonella

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Duncan Hines cake mix, recall
Duncan Hines cake mix, recall
The following Duncan Hines cake mixes were recalled by Conagra Brands over concerns of Salmonella. (Click to enlarge)

–UPDATE–

“FDA and the CDC informed Conagra Brands that a sample of Duncan Hines Classic White Cake Mix that contained Salmonella Agbeni matched the Salmonella collected from ill persons reported to the CDC. This was determined through Whole Genome Sequencing, a type of DNA analysis. The sample was collected by Oregon health officials. Based on this information, Conagra Brands is working with FDA to proactively conduct a voluntary recall of Duncan Hines cake mixes from the market. The FDA is conducting an inspection at the Conagra Brands-owned manufacturing facility that produced the cake mixes. The FDA is also collecting environmental and product samples.” – FDA, November 7, 2018

 

–END UPDATE–

After a retail sample tested positive for Salmonella, Duncan Hines issued a recall of four varieties of its cake mixes. The sample that tested positive for the pathogen was the Classic White cake mix, but out of an “abundance of caution”, the company recalled its Classic Butter Golden, Signature Confetti and Classic Yellow cake mixes that were manufactured during the same period of time.

According to a Conagra Brands press release, the FDA and CDC are investigating five occurrences of Salmonella that may be linked to the Duncan Hines cake mix.

“Several of the individuals reported consuming a cake mix at some point prior to becoming ill, and some may have also consumed these products raw and not baked. Consumers are reminded not to consume any raw batter. Cake mixes and batter can be made with ingredients such as eggs or flour which can carry risks of bacteria that are rendered harmless by baking, frying or boiling.” – Conagra Brands

The recalled products have a “Best If Used By Date” ranging from March 7 to March 13, 2019 and were distributed to U.S. retailers as well as exported internationally (on a limited basis). Consumers are advised to return the recalled products to the store in which they were purchased.

ConAgra Subsidiary Slapped with Largest Criminal Fine Ever in Food Safety Case

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Earlier this week ConAgra Grocery Products, LLC, a subsidiary of ConAgra Foods, Inc., was sentenced to pay $11.2 million after pleading guilty to a criminal misdemeanor charge related to shipping peanut butter contaminated with Salmonella. The $8 million criminal fine and forfeiture of $3.2 million in assets is the largest fine ever paid in a food safety case, according to the Department of Justice.

“This case demonstrates companies – both large and small – must be vigilant about food safety,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division in a release.  “We rely every day on food processors and handlers to meet the high standards required to keep our food free of harmful contamination.”

Stephen Ostroff, 2016 Food Safety Consortium
WATCH THE VIDEO: Stephen Ostroff, M.D., FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine discussed the agency’s take on criminal liability at the 2016 Food Safety Consortium

ConAgra admitted that it introduced contaminated Peter Pan and private label peanut butter into interstate commerce (produced and shipped from the company’s facility in Sylvester, Georgia) during an outbreak of Salmonellosis in 2006. The company also admitted that it had been previously aware of the risk of Salmonella contamination in peanut butter dating back to 2004. Among the culprits of the contamination (as identified by company employees) were an old peanut roaster that did not uniformly heat the raw peanuts, a sugar silo damaged by a storm, and a leaky roof that permitted moisture to enter the facility, followed by airflow that may have pushed the contamination throughout the plant.

The company tried to address some of the issues, but the DOJ stated that ConAgra did not fully correct the situation until after the 2006–2007 outbreak.  “While ConAgra did take corrective action eventually, by failing to timely recognize and rectify the problem of salmonella contamination, this company damaged the health of both public consumers and of the agricultural industry overall.  I commend my staff, that of the Consumer Protection Branch of the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the investigators of the FDA, for the excellent work by all in bringing this incident to this conclusion and I hope that it will serve as a reminder to others in the industry of the high cost of failing to protect the public that relies on them to properly meet this responsibility.”

Watch Out, DOJ and FDA Prioritizing Prosecution