New e-coli recall of salad greens: Government did NOTHING after last outbreak

[Bluebear]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A package of Dole salad mix that tested positive for E. coli has triggered a recall in at least nine states, prompting new produce fears almost exactly a year after a nationwide spinach scare. The tainted bag of Dole's Hearts Delight salad mix was sold at a store in Canada, officials said. Neither Canadian health officials nor Dole Food Co. have received reports of anyone getting sick from the product.

The voluntary recall, issued Monday, affects all packages of Hearts Delight sold in the United States and Canada with a "best if used by" date of September 19, 2007, and a production code of "A24924A" or "A24924B," the company said.

Last year, an E. coli outbreak traced to bagged baby spinach sold under the Dole brand was blamed for the deaths of three people and for sickening hundreds more across the U.S. Authorities eventually identified a central California cattle ranch next to spinach fields belonging to one of Dole's suppliers as being the source of the bacteria.

A recent Associated Press investigation found that government regulators never acted on calls for stepped-up inspections of leafy greens after that outbreak, and regulations governing farms in the fertile central California region known as the nation's "Salad Bowl" remain much as they were.

The latest recall affects packages sold in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces in Canada and in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee starting around Sept. 8, said Marty Ordman, a Dole spokesman.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijrQVRjYGHS3Jwc71VEnaViGXmdw

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(AP) The federal agency that's been front and center in warning the public about tainted spinach and contaminated peanut butter is conducting just half the food safety inspections it did three years ago.

The cuts by the Food and Drug Administration come despite a barrage of high-profile food recalls.

"We have a food safety crisis on the horizon," said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.

Between 2003 and 2006, FDA food safety inspections dropped 47 percent, according to a database analysis of federal records by The Associated Press.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/26/health/main2518201.shtml

[DangerDave921]

1. LOL

I saw the headline on the news earlier today "Dole Recalls Salad Mix." And my first thought was Bob Dole, and I was wondering what in the world could be noteworthy about Bob Dole recalling a salad he once had.

This was before I'd had my coffee.

[Bluebear]

3. You have a very sick thought process.

I like that about you. :rofl:

[spanone]

2. the bu$h* administration has gutted every oversight agency in our nation