Hot dog chili sauce in botulism recall

Source: AP, via Yahoo! News

Federal health officials warned consumers Wednesday to throw away certain cans of hot dog chili sauce after the product was linked to botulism that has sent four people to the hospital.

The warning applies to 10-ounce cans of Castleberry's, Austex and Kroger brands of hot dog chili sauce with "best by" dates from April 30, 2009, through May 22, 2009, the Food and Drug Administration said. It wasn't immediately clear how widely the products were distributed.The products were made by the Castleberry Food Co., owned by Bumble Bee Seafoods LLC. The company is based in San Diego.

FDA has sent experts to the Castleberry plant in Augusta, Ga., where the products were canned, said Robert Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The company is voluntarily recalling all potentially contaminated product and is cooperating with state and federal officials, Brackett added. Botulism is a muscle-paralyzing disease caused by a toxin made by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum, according to the CDC.

Brackett urged consumers to discard any of the recalled cans without opening them. "The toxin is so potent if they get it on their hands or it sprays in their face, it could make them ill," he said.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070719/ap_on_re_us/chili_sauce_botulism&printer=1

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Two comments, one serious, one snarky:

1. My husband and I used to buy the Austex sauce on the rare occasions (cookouts, etc.) when we make chili dogs. But with our last can, on the 4th of July, we noticed that the brand was now owned by Castleberry's, and that it tasted differently...very bland, and with a funny aftertaste. Not that I suspect it was one of the recalled batch (we didn't eat it, but we did taste it to no ill effect), but just that the formerly decent quality had plummeted. So this story surprises me, but doesn't shock.

2. Botulism toxin...Cheap botox -- just smear some on your face! :P (Why anyone would inject that stuff in their skin is beyond me.)

Why not just ingest some botulism and inject pig noses and entrails right into your veins? How do these people even know what made them sick? Was it the street-vendor chili dog or the fried Twinkie? Mayne the Bloomin' Onion at lunch.

:eyes:

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So nice of you to wish me (and others) ill. And suuure, I live on fried Twinkies and onions...not.

Stereotype much?

:eyes: :banghead:

It wasn't my most serious post of the day.

But still...wtf are you doing eating Chinese chili dogs?

.

but I did think that your first response was a bit of the over-generalization and attack-the-messenger type.

In response to your current question, I'll repeat and elucidate snippets from my original comments:


"rare" = not often


"now owned" = We used to purchase it on the aforementioned rare occasions because we try to buy Texas based brands. Austex, get it?



"formerly decent" = not previously of the current crappy quality.

As to the hot dogs themselves, my post doesn't address them at all, just the sauce. But when we do purchase them, we buy kosher, all beef. Not that it should matter.

Oh, and not a dude. ;)

I posted a deliberately smart-ass remark rooted in obvious stereotypes. I went for the cheap laugh. Your post made me think of the odd items in my own fridge which get opened, used once or twice, then relegated to the back behind the broccoli rabe my wife actually thought we'd eat some day because she saw a recipe in Self Magazine.

I understand your point, and considered myself humbled.

:hi:

We've all been guilty at times of uncontrolled snark. No harm, no foul.

:hi: :toast: :pals:

is conducted. Victims are asked detailed questions about what they have eaten, in the case of an outbreak of food-borne illness, and the common denominator is found through analysis of the results and subsequent testing of the product.

It's called science.

Oh, yeah...I'm a science dumb-ass because I am the first person ever to make a chili-dog joke. Yuppers. That's me!

DU never ceases to amaze me.

:eyes:

.

it's been in my cupboard for about a year. I kept looking at it and almost opened it. It is in the garbage now. By the way I don't eat hot dogs and am not sure where the can came from...

when they have recalls you don't have to have your receipt or know exactly where the item came from, i have brought stuff back before that was recalled and the receipt was gone because i had not planned to bring it back -- until the recall came out!

if the clerk doesn't understand about the recall, ask to speak to the manager and the manager will approve the refund

doesn't matter what store it came from, i don't think, i guess the stores are refunded by the gov't when the items are turned in? not sure

we made the purchase -- and threw the item -- on July 4, and the recall is just announced (hence, LBN). But good advice nonetheless, for others! :)

it sells for about .33 a can as opposed to canned no bean chili at about 1.75 a can, decided some deals are just too good to be trusted, glad I did.

and rarely eat any canned processed foods.

Unbelievable! 7/17 - FDA Closes Labs | 7/18 - Bush Creates Panel to Review Food Imports
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3386442

FEMA Suppressed Health Warnings for Workers, Katrina Victims
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2923187

Remember when the Emperor said about how History would remember him to Bob Woodward: "We'll all be dead." More of ...."who cares what you think."

We are ALL COLLATERAL DAMAGE to these Criminals. I don't know how they live with themselves. This is a new breed of person who is free of human conscience...or a massive outbreak of psychopathic personalities who have somehow managed to find each other and create their own insane asylum. :shrug:

Why anyone would want to inject poison under their skin is beyond me. I'll take wrinkles over that.

if medical technology can remove wrinkles, then i see no reason to have wrinkles when the treatment is as safe, effective, and temporary as botox

if you really find you're that attached to your wrinkles, you don't have to continue with maintenance

but the reality is that we live in a visual society and people are judged on their looks, esp. women, there is becoming more and more of a class issue -- upper and upper middle class women tend to have noticeably smoother skin than women who can't afford to maintain themselves, so people are going to make judgments (oh look at her nasty wrinkled skin, she is white trash who probably smoked and sunbathed in her youth), i don't think it is fair that people make such judgments but they do, and more and more


not sure what to do about it other than call out "lookism" whenever i see it promoted, which is often, there are constant posts picking at women's faces, clothes, and bodies that make it clear that no woman over the age of 16 will ever, ever be good enough

well sorry for the rant but there are plenty of good reasons for botox that i can see, when we live in a society where looking better gives you an advantage, there is no blame in taking that advantage, we only get one life to a customer

Big Fat hot dog in a pasty white bun smothered with Castleberry chili and melted cheddar and a sugar water Pepsi. Yummmm at 4 ayem.

The worse are the ones who kill you slowly.

there are so many recalls. And...think of Dennis Kucinich still hospitalized...

Snarky comments about what people eat in a serious situation like this are kind of sad. Whatever we eat it should be as safe as possible. We pay taxes to keep it that way....but we know that those taxes don't go for food safety anymore. The "Globilization" means that all things must be expedited so that the "risk" is spread all over the world. A few thousand deaths here ...a few thousand deaths there and who is going to notice? :-( Besides it keeps the Big Pharma and Big Hospital Associations happy with the fees. Blaming people for food choices is an easy way to get away from the safety issue.