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huge recall of frozen waffles due to listeria in the US and canada
october 18, 2024
the source is treehouse foods, who provides frozen waffles to dozens of brands in north america. eggo is not affected.
brands affected: always save, best choice, bettergoods, breakfast best, clover valley, compliments, essentials, food lion, foodhold, giant eagle, good & gather, great value, hannaford, harris teeter, H-E-B higher harvest, kodiak cakes, no name, pics by price chopper, publix, schnucks, se grocers, selection, simple truth, tops, western family.
if you have any frozen waffles from any of these brands in your freezer, please check here for a full list of the recalled food and their lot codes and best by dates, and here for the pictures of the labels (PDF). treehouse says you can return the recalled items to get credit from the place of purchase.
consider sanitizing anything the waffles may have touched, or anything that you may have touched after touching the waffles. listeria is a very resilient fucker.
no illnesses have been associated with this recall so far. but keep in mind that listeria can take months to cause illness, and then weeks to officially connect an illness with a certain recall or outbreak.
again, while most people exposed to listeria will not get sick, listeria can take months to cause illness after exposure. listeria can be deadly, especially to high-risk groups. if you are in a high-risk group or have any concerns due to eating the recalled waffles, talk to your healthcare provider. if they deem it necessary, there are antibiotics you can be prescribed even if you do not have any symptoms.
as a general reminder for this and every listeria recall: although cooking to 165F/74C can kill off listeria itself, heating the food cannot eliminate toxins that may have already been excreted by listeria, which can also be harmful. this especially applies if the waffles have been defrosted or stored in the refrigerator.
yeah maybe just avoid all food with chicken in it in the united states for a bit...just until they figure out all of who is in possession of the listeria chicken (also includes a lesser amount of beef and maybe other meat)
I stopped at Starbucks for an ice coffee yesterday and it tasted strange. Like it was a little sweet. I had ordered it black, like I do everywhere, so I asked the guy if it was possible some sweetener had gotten in the cup.
“Oh yeah,” he said, “we always do our two classes pumps!”
Two. Classic. Pumps?!
They made me a fresh one with NO pumps of anything at all, simply (as Dennis Leary once put it) coffee flavored coffee. They also offered to let me keep the first one but I refused and handed it back.
A day later and I am still utterly boggled. Is this a thing in every Starbucks, putting liquid sugar into a coffee ordered black by default?! Is this just the one location? I need to find out, because this is NOT okay.
My husband and I were discussing how the first felon is defending the FDA and how the quality control of our food is gonna basically disappear and I proceeded to have so much anxiety about it that I didn't sleep last night. How do we prepare for this? Is there a way to make food safe at home? How can we avoid getting poisoned from the grocery store? Sorry for bringing this anxiety to your inbox but I'm exhausted and scared and I'm hoping you've come up with food safety tips what with your general food complications.
I’m afraid I don’t have a solution for something of this scale and am just as equally terrified, but that said:
Check your local state regulations. Some states actually have strict testing that the FDA when it comes to certain things like milk. See if they are listing any recalls.
Stop eating things raw for the foreseeable future. Wash and cook everything thoroughly, even if the bag claims it’s pre-washed, wash it again. Cooking will also help eliminate any remaining pathogens. It means no more salads for a while but that’s okay.
For things like fruit, try to go with things that have an outer skin that can be taken off. If it requires you to cut into it with a knife, give the outer skin a scrub and rinse to reduce the chances of your knife being contaminated by anything like e-coli and then contaminating the insides by cutting it up.
For fruit that can’t be peeled, make sure to inspect and wash them thoroughly. If you are immunocompromised like me, consider cooking it down into a jam or pie filling to reduce further risk. Not as fun as eating it fresh for some people, but it’s a valid way of still getting the flavor and nutrients.
For things like milk, only drink pasteurized and ultra pasteurized. Try to get pasteurized eggs if you can too.
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, now is the time to get one. Make sore everything is cooked to its required internal temperature. For poultry, the recommended temperature is 165°F (74°C), while for beef and pork, the recommended temperature is 145°F (63°C) with a 3-minute rest time. Ground meats should be cooked to 160°F (71°C). Eggs should be cooked until the yolk is set. No more runny egg yolks for a bit until we get a competent source of information back about bird flu.
For things like flour, try to go for reputable brands that have their own independent testing facilities for things like gluten. They also usually test for other things and clean their facilities thoroughly. My go to is King Arthur atm.
Also, stop eating raw cookie dough if you’re not going to toast the flour in the oven first. That’s how a lot of people get sick, not necessarily from the raw egg, though stop eating raw egg right now if you do. Again, bird flu. [Addendum] I learned the flour trick in a job I used to work, but apparently, the pre-defunded FDA didn't think toasting the flour made it safe, so maybe just don't eat raw cookie dough. And I know someone's going to be a cunt in the notes like "I don't care I do what I want" good for you, hope saying that made you feel better.]
This is a dwindling possibility with the tariffs but try to buy food imported from other countries that still have food quality control. I get my masa harina from a small company that imports directly from Colombia. They can’t afford the gluten free label required to be classified as such in the USA, but considering Cheerios in the USA can afford to buy that label and the celiac foundation certification logo and still routinely sells contaminated produce due to not using gluten free oats and a mechanical sorting system that can’t be certified gluten free (1) (2) (3), I’m more inclined to go with other countries labeling right now.
With clean water under threat, use a filter for your drinking water. We currently use the ones by Life Straw. They don’t fit into your faucet but the LS filters are better than most of the ones that can be attached that way and the housing of the jugs and countertop filters are easy to clean. Make sure you do so once a week and change the filters as directed.
Most of this is just basic food hygiene stuff combined with what it’s like to be immunocompromised, but it’s always worth repeating in case someone didn’t know, but especially worth repeating right now with all our rules and regulating bodies going out the window 😞
there are three types of hazards, biological, chemical, and physical. you must neglect NONE. DONT CONTAMINATE YOUR FOOD YOU WILL KILL SOMEBODY
you know what else causes cross contamination? putting raw meat on top of other food and EATING IT. THATS DISGUSTING. THATS RAW MEAT JUICE SO RAW IT MIGHT AS WELL BE BREATHING. SYOP CROSS CONTAMINATION.
if there was a dangerous foodborne illness outbreak that had dozens of illnesses linked to it across the country, you would still want to know who did it even if those products were expired and no longer being sold, right?
well the US FDA disagrees with you.
there was an e. coli O157:H7 outbreak (investigation #1280) tied to a romaine and iceberg lettuce blend. the FDA knows who did it and where people got sick. 12 states so far.
but for some reason. they are being cagey as fuck about it. they have not named the supplier or even WHERE people got sick. this contaminated lettuce blend was sent to events, restaurants, a school. this lettuce is long expired and no longer being sold.
the FDA is working with the unnamed supplier to see if any of their other products are affected, but the FDA is not even giving the people the option of avoiding this brand. because they refuse to fucking name them!
fuck off with this shit!
this is a shiga toxin-producing strain of e. coli that can cause kidney failure and other long-lasting medical conditions! this is not funny! people deserve to know who did it! especially in a country where patients are so often forced to sue to get their medical bills covered, and especially considering how this is a strain of e. coli that frequently KILLS people!
if this mystery entity is named, I will let you know. it is hard to even guess if the FDA is protecting someone or if this is just another fuckup in a long long long long long string of recent fuckups by the FDA.
this is bullshit. keep an eye on investigation #1280.
Just an FYI. The FDA is not allowed to announce any food recalls due to the health communications pause the current administration enacted. You can still find this information by visiting USDA the site directly.
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls
Here’s the fda link to use to search for recalls, safety alerts, and market withdrawals.
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts
So, while you are making your grocery list, you may want to visit the recalls list since there’s no public communication right now.