Urgent recall of 9,200 cucumber packs over fears they contain salmonella
More than a thousand cases of whole cucumbers have been recalled in the US over potential contamination with salmonella.
PennRose Farms, LLC, is recalling 1,152 cases of its five-pound mesh bags of cucumbers, which amount to 9,216 individual units.
The affected bags have the logos of PennRose Farms and Restaurant Depot, and were packaged from May 2 to 5. They have the UPC code 841214101714 and the lot numbers 48-122, 48-123, 48-124, 48-125.
They were shipped to Restaurant Depot distribution centers in five states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and Ohio.
PennRose Farms initiated the recall on Wednesday after its supplier, Fresh Start Produce Sales, notified it that Bedner Growers was recalling the cucumbers for possibly contamination. PennRose Farms had repacked some of the items in mesh bags.
Consumers are advised not to eat the cucumbers and throw them away immediately. Distributors, retailers and restaurants have been instructed to destroy them.
Anyone who has been served the cucumbers 'should be notified of the potential health concern', stated a notice from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday.
Consumers with concerns should contact their healthcare providers. Those with questions can reach out to PennRose Farms, which is based in Wellington, Florida.
The cucumbers are the only item from PennRose Farms under the recall. More Trending
Salmonella is 'an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems', according to the FDA.
Healthy people infected with salmonella can experience symptoms including diarrhoea with or without blood, abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea and fever.
In rare, more serious cases, the salmonella organism can enter the bloodstream and cause arterial infections, arthritis and endocarditis.
It comes just weeks after Williams Farms Repack LLC recalled thousands of packs of its tomatoes sent to 14 states, over fears of salmonella contamination.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Who is Elias Rodriguez? DC 'shooter' could face death penalty for killing Israel embassy staff
MORE: Trump administration blocks Harvard from enrolling foreign students
MORE: Famous talent agent among the dead in San Diego private jet crash
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Alzheimer's blood test can spot people with early symptoms, study suggests
A new blood test for Alzheimer's disease can accurately detect people with early symptoms, research suggests. Experts from the Mayo Clinic in the US have provided further evidence that blood tests can work to accurately diagnose dementia by examining two proteins in blood plasma. The proteins – amyloid beta 42/40 and p-tau217 – are associated with amyloid plaque buildup, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers found the blood test was highly accurate, with 95% sensitivity, which means it was 95% accurate in picking up people with memory problems, with very few cases missed. It was also 82% for specificity, which means it was also highly accurate in ruling out people without dementia. The study was carried out on more than 500 people in an outpatient memory clinic, meaning it is real-world data. The blood test has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration regulator in the US. Dr Gregg Day, who led the study in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia, said the test was as good as more invasive tests in use. 'Our study found that blood testing affirmed the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with 95% sensitivity and 82% specificity,' he said. 'When performed in the outpatient clinical setting, this is similar to the accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of the disease and is much more convenient and cost-effective.' Overall, researchers found that p-tau217 levels were higher in patients with Alzheimer's disease versus those without the disease. Day said the next steps in the research were to evaluate blood-based testing in more diverse patient populations and people with early Alzheimer's who showed no cognitive symptoms. Dr Richard Oakley, associate director for research and innovation at the Alzheimer's Society in the UK, said the results 'suggest this test is very accurate' and could be used alongside other tests and observations from a trained health professional. 'This study shows how blood tests are making diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease quicker, easier and more accessible than ever before in a real-world setting,' he added. 'While focused on Alzheimer's disease, the test was evaluated in people with other types of dementias too, showing that it may help with differentiate causes of cognitive decline, though more research in diverse groups of individuals and in community-based setting is still needed. 'Currently diagnosis options in the UK are often slow, expensive and can be invasive, meaning thousands miss out on the benefits one can bring. 'It's great to see blood tests like this approved for clinical use in the US. We hope to see the same in the NHS, which is why we're part of the Blood Biomarker Challenge.' The Blood Biomarker Challenge is a multimillion-pound research programme supported by the Alzheimer's Society, Alzheimer's Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Its goal is to bring blood tests for dementia diagnosis to the National Health Service by 2029. Oakley said: 'Blood tests will be critical to accelerate diagnosis and give more people access to the care, support and treatments they desperately need faster than ever before. 'We must see long-term investment in the tools and workforce needed to ensure everyone living with dementia can get an early an accurate diagnosis, which is even more important with disease-modifying treatments on the horizon.' Dr Julia Dudley, head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: 'We urgently need to improve how we diagnose dementia and it's great to see international research working towards this goal. 'Blood tests in this study look at p-tau217 and amyloid beta 42/40 and showed the tests offered high accuracy in confirming Alzheimer's disease. 'This study adds to the growing evidence that blood tests can detect the diseases that cause dementia in people with early memory and thinking problems. 'An important point to consider is that people taking part in research don't always reflect the full diversity of those affected by dementia, who might have additional conditions or other characteristics. 'That is why work is needed to understand whether these blood tests work in a real-world setting. 'In the UK, studies like the Blood Biomarker Challenge are helping to build this evidence. The study is testing blood tests, including p-tau217, in thousands of people from sites across the UK. 'This work will be a crucial part of making diagnosis easier and faster, which will bring us closer to a cure.'
NBC News
15 hours ago
- NBC News
How RFK Jr. is quickly changing U.S. health agencies
WASHINGTON — In just a few short months, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has begun to transform U.S. health policy: shrinking staff at health agencies, restructuring the focus of some regulators and researchers, changing Covid vaccine regulations and reshaping the mission of his department to focus more on alternative medicine. The directives are all part of the same issue set that drove a slice of health-conscious, left-leaning Americans to eventually vote for a Republican president whose favorite meal is from McDonald's, Trump and Kennedy catered to a type of voter who has grown distrustful of America's health care establishment — but possibly fomented a new type of distrust in federal health policy along the way. Bernadine Francis, a lifelong Democrat who backed Joe Biden for president in 2020 before supporting Donald Trump in 2024, told NBC News in an interview that she approves of Kennedy's efforts so far, despite his 'hands being tied' by entrenched forces in the administration and in Congress. 'From what I have seen so far with what RFK has been trying to do,' she said, 'I am really, really proud of what he's doing.' Francis is among the voters who left the Democratic Party and voted for Trump because 'nothing else mattered' apart from public health, which they — like Kennedy — felt was going in the wrong direction. Concerns about chemicals in food and toxins in the environment, long championed by Democrats, has become a galvanizing issue to a key portion of Trump's Republican Party, complete with an oversaturation of information that in some cases hasn't been proven. It's wrapped up, as well, in concerns about the Covid vaccine, which was accelerated under Trump, administered under Biden and weaponized by anti-vaccine activists like Kennedy amid lockdowns and firings in the wake of the devastating pandemic. 'We knew in order to get RFK in there so he can help with the situation that we have in the health industry, we knew we had to do this,' said Francis, a retired Washington, D.C., public school administrator, who said she left her 'beloved' career because she had refused the vaccine. 'It seemed to me, as soon as [Biden] became president, the vaccine was mandated, and that was when I lost all hope in the Democrats,' Francis told NBC News, referring to vaccination mandates put in place by the Biden administration for a large portion of the federal workforce during the height of the pandemic. There are not currently any federal Covid vaccine mandates. There have been 1,228,393 confirmed Covid deaths in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How RFK Jr.'s picks are changing public health agencies Dr. Marty Makary, Kennedy's hand-picked commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and a John Hopkins scientist and researcher, told NBC News in an interview that he wants to transform the agency, which he said faced 'corruption' over influence from the pharmaceutical and food industries. 'I mean, you look at the food pyramid, it was not based on what's best for you, it was based on what companies wanted you to buy,' he said, referring to the 1992 and later iterations of official government nutritional guidance. He said there would be 'entirely new nutrition guidance' released later this year, as soon as this summer. He praised the FDA's mission of research and regulation, saying the agency is 'incredibly well-oiled, and we've got the trains running on time.' He also highlighted the 75-page 'Make America Healthy Again' commission report — which focused on ultraprocessed foods and toxins in the environment — as having set 'the agenda for research' at the FDA, HHS and agencies overseeing social safety net programs such as Medicare and food stamps moving forward. (The MAHA report initially cited some studies that didn't exist, a mistake that Kennedy adviser Calley Means said was a 'great disservice' to their mission.) 'I think there's a lot we're going to learn. For example, the microbiome, which gets attention in the MAHA report, needs to be on the map. We don't even talk about it in our medical circles,' Makary said. 'The microbiome, food is medicine, the immune response that happens when chemicals that don't appear in nature go down our GI tract.' Pressed on other areas of the administration, like the Environmental Protection Agency, making decisions that run counter to the pro-regulatory ideas presented in the MAHA report, Makary said he can 'only comment on the FDA' where they are 'committed to Secretary Kennedy's vision.' But Kennedy's public health agenda goes beyond looking at the food supply and chemicals. Recently, Kennedy said in a video posted on X last month that the Covid vaccine is no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, a change in CDC guidance that skipped the normal public review period. Days later, after critics questioned the decision and raised concerns over a lack of public data behind the move, the administration updated its guidance again, urging parents to consult with their doctors instead. Pressed about the confusion and whether Americans are now trading one side of public distrust in the health system for another, Makary defended Kennedy, who has been criticized for spreading misinformation. 'My experience with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is that he listens. He listens to myself, he listens to Jay Bhattacharya, listens to Dr. Mehmet Oz, he listens to a host of scientists that are giving him guidance,' Makary argued, referring to the director of the National Institutes of Health and the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, respectively. 'So he may have big questions, but the questions he's asking are the questions most Americans are asking.' The intersection of medicine and healthy lifestyle choices Dr. Dawn Mussallem, a breast cancer oncologist and integrative medicine doctor — a physician who combines conventional treatments with research-based alternative therapies — has tried to help her patients wade through medical misinformation they encounter online and in their social circles. Mussallem has an incredible story of personal survival: While in medical school, she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and, after conventional therapies like chemo saved her life, was diagnosed with heart failure. After undergoing a heart transplant, Mussallem ran a 26-mile marathon just one year later. 'I learned a lot in medical school, but nothing compared to what I learned being a patient,' said Mussallem, who dedicates, on average, 90 minutes each in one-on-one sessions with her patients. 'This is not about any one political choice. But we know lifestyle matters.' For example, a new study from the American Society of Clinical Oncology that finds eating food that lowers inflammation in the body may help people with advanced colon cancer survive longer. Mussallem's mission, along with her colleagues, is to elevate the modern medicine that saved her life, as well as encouraging her patients to live healthy lifestyles, including regular exercise, minimally processed foods, less screen time, more social connection and better sleep. But politics do get in the way for millions of Americans who are inundated daily with social media influencers and 'nonmedical experts,' as Mussallem puts it, who stoke fear in her patients. 'Patients come in with all these questions, fears,' she said. 'I've heard this many times from patients, that their nervous system is affected by what they're seeing happening in government.' Mussallem acknowledges that 'a lot of individuals out there' have questioned traditional medicine. For her, it isn't one or the other — it's both. 'We have to trust the conventional medicine,' she said. 'With the conventional care that marches right alongside more of an integrative modality to look at the root causes of disease, as well as to help to optimize with lifestyle, is where we need to be.'
Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
Contraceptives for poorest countries stuck in warehouses after US aid cuts
LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) - Contraceptives that could help prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies in some of the world's poorest countries are stuck in warehouses because of U.S. aid cuts and could be destroyed, two aid industry sources and one former government official said. The stock, held in Belgium and Dubai, includes condoms, contraceptive implants, pills and intrauterine devices, together worth around $11 million, the sources told Reuters. It has been stalled since the Trump administration started cutting foreign aid as part of its 'America First' policy in February, as the U.S. government no longer wants to donate the contraceptives or pay the costs for delivery, they said. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has instead asked the contractor managing its health supply chain, Chemonics, to try to sell it, two of the sources said. An internal USAID memo, sent in April, said a quantity of contraceptives was being kept in warehouses and they should be "immediately transferred to another entity to prevent waste or additional costs". A senior U.S. State Department official told Reuters no decision had been made about the future of the contraceptives. They did not respond to questions about the reasons why the contraceptives were in storage or the impact of the U.S. aid cuts and delays. A spokesperson for Chemonics said they were unable to comment on USAID's plans, but added that the company is working with clients to deliver life-saving aid globally and would continue to support the U.S. government's global health supply chain priorities. The stock represents just under 20% of the supply of contraceptives bought annually by the U.S. for donation overseas, a former USAID official told Reuters. Selling or donating the contraceptives has been challenging, according to the former USAID official, although talks are ongoing. Another option on the table is destroying it, at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars. As time goes on, shelf-lives will also become an issue, one of the sources said. The sources told Reuters that one of the key delays is a lack of response from the U.S. government about what should be done with the stock. It had been destined largely for vulnerable women in sub-Saharan Africa, including young girls who face higher health risks from early pregnancy as well as those fleeing conflict or who otherwise could not afford or access the contraceptives, the sources added. The condoms also help stop the spread of HIV, the former USAID official said. "We cannot dwell on an issue for too long; when urgency and clarity don't align, we have to move on," said Karen Hong, chief of UNFPA's supply chain. She said the agency is now working on Plan B to help fill critical supply gaps.
