Results tagged “recall”

For at least five years, popular stroller company Maclaren knew that children had been losing fingers in their stroller hinges, but the UK-based company did not inform the public or issue a recall until federal regulators all but forced it to do so. At least twelve children have had fingers cut off by Maclaren strollers, and earlier this week the company announced a "voluntary recall" of all their strollers sold since 1999. But the Consumer Products Safety Commission [CPSC] may still come down hard on the company.

When news broke Monday that popular stroller company Maclaren would recall all the strollers they've sold since 1999, the eyes of the world turned to Park Slope. Would there be panic in the streets, stroller bonfires, and children reduced to walking? Naturally the Times was on the scene (the paper's Metro editor Joe Sexton is a life-long Park Sloper, which some say results in myopic Slope-centric news coverage) and found "a palpable sense of anxiety."

The F.D.A. has filed a complaint seeking an injunction against Williamsburg-based Peregrina Cheese in an attempt to stop the company from manufacturing and distributing food until further action is taken by the court. During visits this year, investigators reported filthy conditions at the factory, including standing water in food processing equipment and a dead rodent. More troubling was the the detection of Listeria bacteria in a sample of the cheese products and throughout the factory. According to the Listeria Blog, Listeria monocytogenes is a potentially fatal foodborne pathogen that can cause meningitis, septicemia, and other serious illnesses. The F.D.A. says the company's owners, Javier Peregrina and his wife Isabel, have failed to correct numerous violations cited as far back as 2004. (In March the F.D.A. ordered a recall on Peregrina's Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese after contaminants were found.) No illnesses have been documented from consumers who ate Peregrina cheese, which produces several Mexican-style cheeses. But according to the F.D.A., the bacteria collected by inspectors in 2004 is the same strain of Listeria found this year, which suggests "that the strain has formed a niche at Peregrina Cheese's facility...for at least five years."

Raw cookie dough is soooo yummy, but some people with weak immune systems have gotten E. coli poisoning from it, and now we all have to suffer because Nestle is recalling their Toll House cookie dough products, even though some 66 reported illnesses haven't been linked directly to Toll House. The voluntary recall includes refrigerated cookie bar dough, cookie dough tub, cookie dough tubes, seasonal cookie dough and—it gets worse—Ultimates cookie bar dough! We don't know what that is, but it's the Ultimates so we want it in our mouth holes. The Toll House products do have warnings on their packaging about the dangers of raw dough, but with the FDA and CDC now investigating the E. coli/cookie dough connection, the company decided it would be best to just take it out of harm's way, like we're irresponsible children who'll eat whatever's in front of us. And in other corporate food product news, Pizza Hut execs would like you to start calling their company "The Hut," which they think "ties in nicely with (today's) texting generation." cu@hut l8r?

A routine inspection by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets turned up 30 rodent droppings, nearly two dozen dead cockroaches, and two live ones at a Long Island plant that produces a range of chocolate-coated items, including almonds, pistachios, raisins and peanuts. But the company, Setton Foods International, was permitted to continue shipping its products through March because the live roaches were successfully killed during the inspection, Newsday reports.

Some cheeses from an East Williamsburg distributor (go nuts, neighborhood nomenclature scolds!) are being recalled by the F.D.A. because they may be contaminated with listeria bacteria, which can cause Listeriosis, a bacterial infection that can cause mild flu-like symptoms and diarrhea in healthy individuals. But according to the F.D.A., meningitis and blood poisoning can occur in "immune-compromised individuals." Pregnant women are also considered a high-risk group, because Listeriosis can also result in stillbirths. The F.D.A. ordered the recall on 14-ounce plastic trays of "Peregrina Cheese Brand Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese" after routine samples by the Dept. of Agriculture turned up contaminants. Officials recommend returning it to the place of purchase. So far, no one has reported getting sick from it.

An unlikely pairing of food sellers are in the news today for questions surrounding the quality of the products they're serving to New Yorkers. Local Whole Foods Markets joined in the voluntary recall of ground beef that was sold during the last two months by the high end grocer. Almost fifty people have fallen ill from potential E. coli contamination.

When salmonella first ruined the tomatoes, some carnivores laughed at the distraught vegetable lovers; now an E. coli outbreak has prompted a nationwide beef recall, and the only ones left to laugh are the breatharians. 530,000 pounds of beef have been pulled from supermarkets nationwide; over 40 people may have been sickened in Michigan and Ohio by contaminated beef sold by the Kroger chain. Symptoms to watch out for at tomorrow’s barbecues include stomach cramps and diarrhea.

The California based Westland/Hallmark Meat Company is recalling all its raw and frozen beef products distributed since Feb. 1, 2006 – a total of 143 million pounds of ground beef. The largest beef recall in history was announced after an undercover Humane Society video showed workers kicking sick cows, jabbing them in the eyes and using forklifts to force them to walk to slaughter. (See the video here.)

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A shooting in Brooklyn, a power outage in Queens, and scaffolding that fell on the 5 tracks - subway service on the 2 and 5 is messed up!
• A Bronx man pleaded guilty to terror plotting; Tarik Shah will serve no more than 15 years for offering to teach Al Qaeda operatives "how to wage jihad with hand-to-hand combat"
• New lawsuit to stop the Atlantic Yards lawsuit, on the grounds that the Pataki administration's Environmental Impact Statement was "fatally flawed"
• A man stabbed his father while in an SUV in Midtown last night; his mother watched from the backseat
• Brooklyn Record looked at the Williamsburg jeans from the Gap, but it's questionable how Williamsburg they really are
• The Police Academy will move out of its gross East 20th Street digs to College Point, Queens, where the College Point auto pound currently resides
• The missing British teen who ran - and flew - away to NYC after an argument with his parents was found at JFK; we're intrigued how he had enough money of his own to buy a ticket (credit card, probably?)
• Gridskipper lists the top sake bars in the city; old standbys Decibel and Angel Share make it
• The pet food recall now includes dog biscuits
• And, finally, Community Board 4 approved renaming the west side of 53rd and 8th Avenue "Jerry Orbach Way"
Continue reading "Extra, Extra"

The good news is that the FDA didn't find rat poison (aka aminopterin) in pet food samples from Menu Foods, which is what NY State authorities found last week. The bad - very bad - news is that traces of melamine were found in the pet food, and apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten was also sent to a dry food manufacturer. From the AP:

Cornell University scientists also found melamine — used to produce plastic kitchen wares and used in Asia as a fertilizer — in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the company’s wet food...

Continue reading "FDA Finds Plastics Chemicals in Recalled Pet Food"

Some love it to the point of being freakishly cultish. Others don't see what the big deal is. But everyone can agree on one thing: you can do plenty of productive things with the time you spend waiting on line to get a burger at Shake Shack.

It's been a slow week in Clap Your Hands Say Yeah news, but we just came across an amusing McSweeney's list from September entitled "I Can Never Recall the Name of Brooklyn's New Hip Band:"

Gothamist would like to thank the New York Times for giving us a mini anxiety attack with an article about last year's blackout that begins, "." Augh! Are state officials trying to tell us that perhaps another blackout could occur, because if that's the case, trim those tree branches! NYC has enough power until 2009, which is when officials expect the city to fall short of the 3000 megawatts needed by 280 megawatts (if anyone can explain any of this, be our guest). Yes, the blackout was a great way to bond, dance in the streets and have cookouts, but blackouts are so 2003. Let's think of something new in this post-Industrial Revolution world, like money magically coming out of all ATMs at once.

The gig is up for Dean Kamen: His 12 mph speed demon, the Segway Human Transporter, has been recalled! Apparently people have been falling off when the batteries are low. Yikes, that's just like...riding a bike! Helmets, people, helmets.

Why does the State of California treat its recall like a Bingo match at the local retirement home? Even the AP says it seems more like a Vegas Keno match. Apparently its a way to "erase the estimated 5 percent advantage a candidate gets from being at the top of the ballot," and Secretary of State Kevin Shelley says that the State does it before every election but "no one ever comes." Well, when you have Arnold, [Arnold] Gary Coleman, Arianna, Larry Flynt, and Gallagher...

In crazy political news, the effort to recall Gray Davis as Governor of California has been gaining unexpected momentum. Davis was re-elected in 2002, but may be on this November's ballot (he let the state budget deficit go to $38 billion). Possible candidates for governor? Dianne Feinstein for the Democrats, Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Republicans (he'll figure that all out after Terminator 3 opens; if his box office is hot, Gothamist thinks he'll do it). Oh, and there's Darrell Issa, the Republican Congressman behind the effort. (Issa's a congressman AND an car alarm entrepreneur!) Justin covered this a few weeks ago (clearly, Justin is ahead of the curve, and certainly ahead of Jen), revealing some religious origins of the recall.