FACT SHEET | November 16, 2010

Recent Food Safety Incidents in FDA Regulated Products

A series of high-profile food safety incidents have helped stress the need for major improvements to the nation's food safety system. The following timeline provides some highlights from some of the highest profile food safety incidents in recent years.

August—September 2006: Fresh Spinach

Starting in August 2006, an occurrence of E. coli in fresh spinach sickened more than 200 people in 26 states (see map), and resulted in the deaths of five people. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its first advisory to consumers on September 14, 2006,which remained in effect until September 22, 2006. In March 2007, the FDA and the California Department of Health Services issued a report on the outbreak, which stated that its investigation into the outbreak was unable to make any "definitive determination" about how the spinach was contaminated by E. coli.

The eight-day recall had a major impact on the spinach industry. The spinach industry estimated that the economic losses from this recall ranged from $37 to $74 million. [Government Accountability Office, “FDA’s Food Protection Plan Proposes Positive First Steps, but Capacity to Carry Them Out Is Critical,” January 29, 2008] One year after the recall, the spinach industry experienced a $350 million loss and a 20 percent reduction in sales from pre-recall levels. [USA Today, “Spinach recall: 5 faces. 5 agonizing deaths. 1 year later,” September 24, 2007]

December 2006: Lettuce

In December 2006, E. coli was detected in lettuce and sickened more than 70 people in five states, which resulted in the hospitalization of approximately eighty-six people. Initially, green onions were mistakenly thought to have been the source of the E. coli leading one restaurant to pull all its green onions from its 5,800 locations.

February—March 2007: Peanut Butter

Beginning in November 2006, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) began detecting a substantial increase in the number salmonella illnesses. In February and March of 2007, the FDA warned consumers not to eat certain brands of peanut butter because they were contaminated with salmonella. In 2005, the FDA had suspected that the manufacturer of the recalled peanut butter might be contaminated with salmonella but the manufacturer refused to allow the FDA to inspect its records. Ultimately, the salmonella contamination sickened more than 625 people in 47 states.

The subsequent industry recall started on February 14, 2007 for selected peanut butter products. On March 9, 2007, the industry expanded their recall to include selected peanut butter products that were manufactured through October 2004. In total, the recall involved 326 million pounds of peanut butter and close to 10,000 cases of peanut butter toppings.

The recall and subsequent expansion also had a significant economic impact. The industry that initiated the recall spent more than $78 million on the recall and estimated that the total value of the contaminated peanut butter at $1 billion. Additionally, the industry that initiated the recall saw its peanut butter sales decline by 63 percent in Fiscal Year 2007. [CIO, "Beyond Peter Pan: How ConAgra's Pot Pie Recall Bakes In Hard Lessons for Supply Chain Management," October 22, 2007]

February—March 2007: Pet Food

Beginning in February 2007, one of North America's largest pet food companies began receiving consumer complaints that pets were becoming sick after consuming its product. The company subsequently began tasting trial tests which resulted in the deaths of some of the animals used in the tasting trial. [Reuters, "Pet deaths expected to rise despite recall: FDA," March 19, 2007]

On March 15, 2007, the FDA announced that certain pet foods were sickening and killing animals. The following day, the company announced a recall of a portion of the product that was manufactured between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. [Menu Foods Income Fund Press Release, March 16, 2007] The size of this initial recall amounted to approximately 1 percent (60 million cans) of the annual pet food consumed in the United States. On March 24th, April 5th, April 10th, and May 3rd the company expanded its recall to include even greater numbers of its product. The cost of the recall to the company totaled $55 million. [USA Today, "Pet-food recall leads to 6,000 claims and counting," August 27, 2008]

The contamination of the company's pet food was caused when, in order to save money, a company in China mixed melamine, a type of animal feed filler, into its wheat gluten. The melamine then reacted with another chemical, cyanuric acid, to cause kidney failure. In total, the FDA received 18,000 calls from consumers who alleged that their pet was affected by the company's pet food.

March 2007—June 2007: Snack Food

Beginning in March 2007, individuals began reporting illnesses after consuming a popular snack food. In June, the FDA warned consumers not to eat the snack food after an ongoing investigation by the CDC identified the snack food as the salmonella's source.

At the same time, the company initiated a nation-wide recall of the snack food. The company also launched an investigation into the illnesses and found that the salmonella had come from a spray-on vegetable seasoning imported from China.

Ultimately, the snack food sickened approximately 60 people, most toddlers, in 19 states (see map). The recall had a significant economic impact, as the recalled product accounted for approximately 12 percent of the company's $50 million in sales. [Forbes, "Tainted Booty," April 21, 2008]

July 2007—September 2007: Chili Products

Beginning in July 2007, the FDA and Department of Agriculture (USDA) began warning consumers not to eat specific types of chili sauce because of botulism contamination. The company that produced the chili sauce subsequently issued its first recall notice on July 18th for ten products that had a specific "best by" date between April 30, 2009 and May 22, 2009. On July 21st, the company expanded its recall to approximately 90 products, without regard for the products "best by" dates, for a period going back two years.

The FDA's subsequent investigation found numerous reasons for concern with the manufacturer including problems with the "thermal processing of foods" and failure to prevent food from becoming adulterated. Although the original cost of the recall to the company totaled $35 million, the company would later reported an "impairment charge" of $78 million in total recall-related costs. Ultimately, the botulism contamination sickened eight people in three states.

March 2008: Cantaloupes

In March 2008, the FDA issued an import alert to consumers about salmonella contamination in cantaloupes from a grower and packer in Honduras. The import alert advised the FDA's field offices to detain all of the cantaloupes from the Honduran company.

The import alert was issued by the FDA after it linked the imported cantaloupes to a salmonella outbreak that was currently taking place in the United States. The salmonella contamination sickened over 50 people in 16 states (see map), and at least 16 people were hospitalized.

April 2008: Cereal

On April 5, 2008, a cereal company recalled certain types of rice and wheat cereals that were produced at a facility in Minnesota because they were contaminated with salmonella. The recall was issued for its products with a "best if used by date" between April 8, 2008 and March 29, 2009. The recall was issued by the company after it received notification of contamination following a routine test conducted on March 24, 2008.

Despite the issuance of the recall, on April 7, 2008 the CDC began to receive reports that people were being sickened by the salmonella in the recalled cereal. In total, 28 people in 15 states (see map) were sickened by the contaminated cereal and eight people were hospitalized.

June—August 2008: Tomatoes, and Jalapeño and Serrano Peppers

Beginning in early June 2008, the FDA began warning residents in Texas and New Mexico that they should avoid eating certain types of tomatoes because they were linked to a salmonella outbreak.  At the time of the initial warming to residents, the FDA believed that approximately 40 people in two states had been sickened by salmonella.  However, at the time of the initial notice, the FDA was unable to specifically identify the type and source of tomatoes that were responsible for the salmonella outbreak.

The salmonella outbreak continued to spread throughout June.  On June 30, 2008, the FDA announced that it was broadening its investigation to encompass food items that are commonly consumed with tomatoes.  By the time the investigation was broadened, 810 people in 36 states had been sickened by the salmonella outbreak.

On July 7th, the FDA notified consumers that it was now investigating certain types of fresh tomatoes, peppers such as jalapeños, and fresh cilantro as possible causes of the salmonella outbreak.  However, it was unable to directly implicate one of these ingredients as the single source, nor discard any as a possible source of the salmonella outbreak.  At this time, 971 people in 40 states had been sickened by the salmonella outbreak.

On July 17th, the FDA notified consumers that tomatoes currently on the market were safe to consume, but that consumers should now stop eating jalapeño and Serrano peppers.  At this time, 1,220 people in 42 states had been sickened by the salmonella outbreak.  On July 21st, an FDA laboratory detected salmonella in a sample of a jalapeño pepper, which was obtained and distributed in Texas, but grown in Mexico.  The distributor also began working with the FDA to its product at that time which had sickened1,251 people in 43 states.

On July 30th, the FDA announced that its investigation had confirmed that both a sample of Serrano peppers and a sample of irrigation water from a farm in Mexico contained salmonella.  The FDA subsequently began advising consumers to avoid raw Serrano peppers from Mexico, in addition to jalapeño peppers from Mexico, and any foods that contain them.  The FDA also noted that it was likely that more than one food vehicle was involved in this outbreak because the entirety of the outbreak could not be accounted for by a single food item.

On August 28th, the FDA lifted its advisory to consumers to avoid eating jalapeño and Serrano peppers grown, harvested, or packed in Mexico.  Ultimately, 1,442 people in 43 states (see map) were sickened by the salmonella outbreak, and at least 282 people were hospitalized. 

The impact of the salmonella outbreak had a significant economic impact on the tomato and pepper industries.  In the weeks after the mistaken tomato advisory was lifted, tomato growers reported that its losses had already reached $100 million in sales. [Bloomberg, " Tomato Growers Seek Payback on Salmonella Scare," August 5, 2008]  In the weeks that followed, Florida’s Tomato Growers Exchange estimated their losses at $500 million. [Sarasota Herald Tribune, "Tomato Growers Fault FDA for losses," July 1, 2008]  Additionally, the produce industry reported that it suffered $200 million in losses as consumer demand dropped for fresh produce. [CBS News, "Report: Tainted Peppers Didn’t Alarm FDA," August 19, 2008]

November 2008—February 2009: Peanut Butter and Peanuts

In November 2008, the CDC began to monitor a growing salmonella outbreak.  At the same time, many of the nation’s affected state health departments also began to conduct investigations of the outbreak.  On January 5, 2009, the state of Minnesota’s health and agriculture departments tested a peanut butter sample for salmonella.  The tests confirmed the presence of salmonella on January 9, 2009.

On January 10, 2009, upon learning of the salmonella contamination, a major distributor of the peanut butter began recalling the product that was manufactured at a single facility in Georgia.  However, the manufacturer of the peanuts and peanut products, despite knowing that prior samples of its product had previously tested positive for salmonella, initially denied that salmonella had ever been found in its products and waited until January 13, 2009, to order a limited recall.  On January 18, 2009, the manufacturer expanded its recall and on January 28, 2009, the manufacturer recalled all of its peanuts and peanut products that were processed at the Georgia facility since January 1, 2007.

At this point, the salmonella had sickened over 500 people in 43 states and eight deaths were thought to be linked with the outbreak.  On January 30, 2009, the FDA and the Department of Justice announced that it had begun a criminal investigation into the actions of the company.

On February 10, 2009, at the request of Texas Department of State Health Services and the FDA, the manufacturer announced that it was suspending operations at its peanut processing facility in Texas and recall all products manufactured there since March 2005.  This request was made after several conditions that posed human health risks were discovered.  On February 20, 2009, the company that manufactured the product declared chapter 7 bankruptcy and said that it would no longer be able to communicate with customers about its recalled products.

In its entirety, the recall would impact more than 3,900 products, including: peanuts, peanut butter, peanut paste, brownie products, cake and pie products, candy products, cereal products, cookie products, cracker products, donut products, dressing and seasoning products, fruit and vegetable products, ice cream products, pre-packaged meals, snack bar products, snack and snack mix products, and topping products.  The last update provided by the CDC in April 2009 found that 714 people and nine deaths in 46 states (see map) were linked to this salmonella outbreak. 

The impact of the salmonella outbreak also had a significant economic impact on the peanut industry.  In March of 2009, it was estimated that the outbreak would cost the industry at least $1 billion.

February—April 2009: Alfalfa Sprouts

In February 2009, Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services began to identify an increase in the number of salmonella related illnesses.  In late February, state public health officials noticed an increase in salmonella illnesses and was circulated by state public health officials.   Subsequently, health departments in Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, and Missouri began to report their own salmonella illnesses.  A series of interviews of the patients who became ill determined that the source of the salmonella came from contaminated alfalfa sprouts.

On March 3, 2009, the Nebraska-based company that provided the alfalfa sprouts to food distributors initiated a recall after it had communications with Nebraska state officials.   By March 19, 2009, 186 cases had been identified in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, and Minnesota. 

On April 13, 2009, the CDC was informed by West Virginia’s health department that two of its residents were sickened by the same type of salmonella that had previously been detected in March.  On April 16, 2009, the CDC was informed by Pennsylvania’s health department that six of its residents were also sickened by the same type of salmonella.  Ten days later, the FDA and the CDC recommended that until further notice that consumers not eat raw alfalfa sprouts.  Ultimately, 235 people in 14 states (see map) were sickened by the salmonella contamination.

March—April 2009: Pistachios

In March 2009, the FDA reported that multiple samples of pistachio nuts and pistachio products were contaminated with several sources of salmonella.  The source of all of the contaminated pistachios came from a single company in California. 

The company that processed the pistachios subsequently stopped distributing certain products that came from its 2008 crop and also issued a voluntary recall of selected products.   The recall of the contaminated pistachios may have been used in a wide range of foods, including cakes, snack bars, and ice cream.  The total amount of the pistachio recall totaled 2 million pounds and 664 pistachio products.

The FDA investigated the company’s facilities and it found that the company had detected salmonella in October 2008 but did not change its processing procedures until March 2009.  The investigation also found that between October 2008 and March 2009, the company reported "at least eight reported Salmonella-positive test results," but there were no "procedures in place" to respond appropriately.  As of April 14, 2009, one patient in Connecticut became sick when they consumed a pistachio product that was contaminated with salmonella.

The impact of the salmonella outbreak also had a significant economic impact on the pistachio industry.  In October 2010, more than a year after the salmonella was detected, the $800 million pistachio industry reported that its sales had declined by 20 percent from the previous year.

June 2009: Cookie Dough

In June 2009, the FDA and the CDC warned consumers to not eat a certain company’s cookie dough because it was contaminated with E. coli.  On the day of the FDA and CDC announcement, the company recalled its product but stated that its tests had not linked its product to E. coli.  Later in the month, the FDA confirmed that E. coli was found in a sample of the company’s cookie dough.

The last update provided by the CDC stated that the E. coli contamination in cookie dough had sickened over 70 people in 30 states (see map), with 10 people developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a disease that can cause chronic kidney disease. 

February and March 2010: Food Flavoring

In February and March 2010, one of the nation’s largest food flavoring manufacturers began having its products recalled after a supplier detected salmonella in one the manufacturer’s products.  In the days that have followed, additional products have been added to the recall list with the FDA’s listing reaching 177 (current as of April 1, 2010).  The types of product affected by the recall include soups, snack mixes, sauces, frozen foods, and dressings. 

Given that the manufacturer produces about 20 million pounds of food flavoring per year and began shopping affected product in September, it is expected that the recalled products will be in excess of millions of pounds.  On March 10, 2010, the Washington Post reported that the manufacturer of the infected product knew that its product was contaminated, but that it had continued to make and sell the contaminated product.

May 2010 to Present: Eggs

In late June and early July, the Centers for Disease Control noticed a four-fold increase in the number of salmonella sicknesses occurring each week (increasing from 50 per week to 200 per week). The subsequent investigations by numerous parties revealed that eggs were the likely source of infections and that approximately 1,500 illnesses are likely to be associated with this salmonella outbreak. The initial investigations conducted by the FDA found that two farms in Iowa were the potential sources of the outbreaks and in Mid-August those two egg farms issued a series of recalls for 550 million eggs.

 

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