Not one but two black licorice makers tested for too much lead. Some Arizona distribution is in the mix.

On August 21, 2012 there was a voluntary recall Red Vines Black Licorice Twists made by the American Licorice Company. The affected product in this recall is  only for the one-pound bags of Red Vines Black Licorice with a “Best Before Date 020413″.

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The ingredients for black licorice are  molasses, wheat flour, corn syrup, caramel coloring, licorice extract, salt, and anise flavor. So where does the lead come from?

On their website, American Licorice Company says their products are made in the United States but some ingredients may be reprocessed elsewhere.  To their credit, there is a good Q&A dialogue going on between customers and the company.

According to their website, and to answer someone’s question posed:

“Thanks for your question. Lead is a naturally occurring element on the planet, and as such, tiny traces of the element are present in many foods and beverages including drinking water. The amounts present in most food and beverages, including our candy, are so small they have to be measured in parts per million. The FDA and California Department of Public Health (CDPH) have guidelines about the levels of lead that is considered safe for consumption so that they can ensure safety for the public food supply, specifically for children under six and pregnant women who are most susceptible to health issues from lead exposure. Below is a link from the FDA with more information on lead in candy products.”

Here’s the FDA website for more info

People are asking for the distribution list and that seems unavailable a/o this writing.

However, another astute person says that a competitor recently had their black licorice recalled because of the same problem. “Two separate firms, making similar products, have recalls for similar time frames? Some common, but specific material, may be suspect?”

 On August 10, second candy manufacturer Lucky Country Inc. recalled one lot of Lucky Country Aussie Style Soft Gourmet Black Licorice with Natural Ingredients from Costco and Smart & Final stores located in California, Arizona, and Utah due to elevated levels of lead.

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AZ food safety alerts on Twitter

The FDA is finally making some good use of Twitter by asking people to follow safety alerts for their own state.

So for you Arizonans, if you don’t care about food recalls in upstate New York, but want to know what is going on food safety wise right here in Arizona, follow:

@AZ_FSISAlert

The FSIS stands for Food Safety and Inspection Services.

“”These new Twitter feeds provide yet another mechanism for us to provide consumers with critical updates and relevant information they need to protect their families from foodborne illness,” USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen said. “The immediacy of information-sharing through social media is unparalleled, and we believe these timely, targeted updates will better protect public health.”

Here’s a complete list of  Twitter feeds by state.

Fresh produce and foodborne illness

The very thought of a foodborne illness makes my stomach churn.

Every year, 76 million Americans are sickened, 325,000 hospitalized and 5,000 die from consuming contaminated food. The at-risk demographic for foodborne illness include toddlers and young children, the elderly, and people whose immune systems have been compromised by disease or treatments like chemotherapy. Not only does foodborne illness threaten health and negatively impacts quality of life but also costs the United States $152 billion annually, according to a recent report from the Produce Safety Project, a Pew Charitable Trust at Georgetown University.

These health-related costs include medical costs such as hospital services, doctor services, and pharmaceutical drugs. Quality-of-life losses cover costs associated with deaths, pain, suffering, and functional disability. This estimate encompasses both costs to the person made ill as well as the costs to others in society.

Although the majority of costs accrue to unknown pathogens, infections from well known pathogens have large measurable costs. Campylobacter-related costs totaled more than an estimated $18.8 billion. Costs linked to Salmonella reached an estimated $14.6 billion and
Listeria-associated costs were an estimated $8.8 billion.

The report also estimates the cost of illnesses associated with produce, which is linked to the largest number of outbreaks involving  FDA-regulated foods. For E. coli O157:H7, 39% of outbreaks and 54% of illnesses linked to FDA regulated food items were attributable to produce. Using data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the report estimates that foodborne illness costs related to produce total $39 billion per year.

The report ranks states according to their estimated total costs related to foodborne illness. Arizona was not ranked in the top ten states. For example, California ranked the highest at $18.6 billion. The second highest ranking state was Texas at $11.3 billion. Arizona’s cost was $2.9 billion.

The report also ranks states according to their estimated per-capita costs related to foodborne illness. The state with the highest per-capita  foodborne illness costs per year were Hawaii with $553 and Mississippi with $543. Arizona’s per capita cost was $464.

Finally, the report ranks states according to their estimated total cost per case of foodborne illness. Again, Hawaii had the highest costs per case at $2,008 and Florida at $1,984. Arizona’s cost per case was $1,829 but was not in the top ten.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been voluntary recalls for beef, cheese, soy grits, soup base, pecans, Italian sausage, ground red pepper, ground black pepper, granola bars, chicken pot pie, dog food, instant noodles, and baby food to name a few.

In 2009, there was a bill – HR 875 called Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. It would divide the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) into two separate agencies – the FDA and the FSA (Food Safety Administration). The bill went nowhere.

That doesn’t sound like a bad idea especially if it will make both agencies more efficient, right?

But it depended on whom you talk to. The Organic Consumers trade association was against this bill as was small farmers who worried that government regulation of food production would adversely affect small farms selling at farmers markets and local food co-ops, which can’t absorb the possible costs of abiding by regulation as easily as big food producers can.

Currently, there’s another bill S. 510 called the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act with scale-appropriate regulation for local, sustainable agriculture that does not interfere with existing organic regulations.

Photo: Courtesy of Free Foto