Thousands of cases of tuna have been recalled by both Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee, after reports that equipment malfunctions have led to the possible undercooking of the product. “Process deviations” occurred in a third-party co-pack facility not owned or operated by the two companies. According to the FDA, “These deviations were part of the commercial sterilization process and could result in contamination by spoilage organisms or pathogens.” The FDA further cautions that consuming any contaminated tuna could lead to “life-threatening illness.” The FDA notes that no reports of illness have been made to date.
Meanwhile, Chipotle had yet another incident this month, when a Boston-area restaurant closed after four employees came down sick, with one testing positive for norovirus. A Chipotle spokesperson said that none of the employees worked during their illness, but as a precaution the restaurant was shut down and sanitized.
Read more: Chipotle Tries to Make Amends Following Contamination Crisis
No customer illnesses were reported at this location, and the restaurant received a positive health inspection just a week prior to the incident. However, Chipotle is still struggling to gain back customers — stock prices went down 26 percent in February, but perked back up a bit in March … until the Massachusetts incident sent prices plunging back down by 27 percent. Chipotle insists that this was a “nonevent” and only received widespread attention because the parents of one of the workers contacted the media. Chipotle, in a desperate attempt to win back diners, is even going as far as mailing out 21 million free entree coupons.
Read more: Combating Deadly Food Contamination
Wonderful Pistachios is also having a bad month, after certain flavors and sizes of in-shell and shelled pistachios were recalled because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. The CDC, multiple states, plus the FDA are all investigating an outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo. There have been reports of 11 people being infected across nine states, and two have been hospitalized, but no deaths have resulted from the pistachios.
Another food product being pulled out of fear of possible Salmonella contamination — Boost Tea. The company released a statement saying that organic spinach powder produced by FutureCeuticals tested positive for Salmonella in another company’s product, not in Boost Tea, but since Boost Tea also contains this organic spinach powder ingredient from the same supplier the recall was issued.
