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Food Safety

General Mills recalls unbleached flour for possible E. coli

5-pound bags of Gold Medal all-purpose flour shipped nationwide

September 18, 2019

General Mills recalled 5-pound bags of Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour because E. coli was found in product sampling.

Food Safety

German dark chocolate with coffee beans recalled for undeclared milk

Ritter Sport bars distributed nationwide

Rose Shilling

September 12, 2019

Stark Group International recalled Ritter Sport KAFFEESPLITTER dark chocolate bars from Germany because they may contain milk allergens not noted on the labels.

Food Safety

More stores added to tuna recall for toxin from improper chilling

5 illnesses reported from scombroid poisoning

Rose Shilling

September 11, 2019

Alfa International Seafood Inc. recalled refrigerated yellowfin tuna steaks because they might cause a type of food poisoning from fish that have begun to spoil.

Food Safety

Recall: Gluten-free cornbread mix may contain gluten

Hometown Food found problem during standard batch testing

Rose Shilling

September 10, 2019

Hometown Food Company recalled about 375 cases of Martha White Gluten-Free Sweet Cornbread Muffin Mix after quality testing detected gluten.

Food Safety

Conagra recalls gluten-free hamburger buns for plastic pieces

Dough scraper accidentally got into the product

Rose Shilling

September 10, 2019

Conagra Brands recalled 2,200 cases of Udi’s Classic Hamburger Buns that might contain small pieces of white plastic from a dough scraper.

Food Safety

Kroger recalls tuna steaks that could cause poisoning from improper chilling

Fresh fish sold at seafood counters and in display cases

Rose Shilling

September 9, 2019

The Kroger grocery chain recalled fresh yellowfin tuna steaks from stores in 16 states because some consumers had signs of poisoning from improper chilling, the FDA announced.

Plant of the Year

One week left to submit for the 2020 Food Engineering Plant of the Year award

Submissions due by Dec. 13

Casey Laughman

September 9, 2019

Submissions are now open for the 2020 Food Engineering Plant of the Year.

Gracyor perishables Cold Storage Facility

Graycor Construction to build high-capacity perishables distribution center for big-box retailer

Graycor broke ground on the Shafter, Calif., distribution center in October 2018.

September 6, 2019

Graycor Construction Co., Oak Brook Terrace, Ill., topped out on the construction of a 628,713-square-foot high-capacity perishable distribution center for a big-box retailer.

Automation

PLCs, PACs and IPCs: Skip the IIoT acronym and get on with business

PLCs, IPCs and PACs have always been networked, so what role does IIoT really play in the overall manufacturing environment?

Wayne Labs

September 5, 2019

In a Tech Update feature headlined “PLCs/PACs: Keys to the IIoT kingdom,” we looked at programmable controllers (PLCs), programmable automation controllers (PACs) and to some extent industrial PCs (IPCs), the latter of which can certainly be applied to most any level of control—e.g., discrete, PID, batch, etc. We considered new functionality in today’s controllers, internal operating systems, I/O capabilities, security and networking—both at the fieldbus/controls level (OT) and IT-side connections.

Food Safety

Herbal teas recalled for possible salmonella from fennel seed

Mountain Mel’s sold the tea on Amazon

Rose Shilling

August 30, 2019

Mountain Mel’s Essential Goods recalled three types of herbal tea for possible salmonella contamination. The products used fennel seed recalled by Mountain Rose Herbs in Oregon.