Posted on 02/18/2006 4:30:38 AM PST by Aussie Dasher
CHICAGO - A northern Illinois resident reported finding a bird’s head in a can of pinto beans, prompting a Chicago-based food company to announce a voluntary recall on Friday..
La Preferida Inc. said in a statement that it was recalling a limited number of its cans as a precaution. The company says the beans were canned by New Meridian Inc. in Eaton, Ind.
“There are still many unanswered questions, but we have decided to err on the side of safety,” said David Brand, La Preferida’s director of quality assurance.
The company is investigating to determine how the bird head got into the 15-ounce can, he said. The Illinois Department of Public Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are also investigating.
Luz Marrufo, a 28-year-old nurse’s assistant, told the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb that she found the bird’s head Thursday while preparing breakfast for her three sons. She said she purchased the can at a grocery store in Aurora.
“I don’t think we’ll be eating beans for a long time, unless I make them,” Marrufo told the newspaper.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Any settlement will have to be swift, or the press will rail on about this. You know how they love to grouse about stories like this.
For reasons of quality control, the chefs at the Freeper Canteen do not purchase vittles from "canaries" lacking high quality control. Even though contaminated food products can be had for a song, a few cents per serving is a mynah price to pay for one's health, in these days of One Bird's Flu over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Guess the folks in that cannery weren't keeping their eye on the sparrow...
Mynah...good one BUMP!
They'll probably parrot the 'evil corporation' line until the advertisers start cawing about it.
By Chris Rickert - City Editor
DeKALB - La Preferida Inc. said Friday night it would recall a “limited number” of its 15-ounce cans of whole pinto beans after a DeKalb woman said she found a bird's head in a can of the beans.
The company promised to work closely with federal, state and DeKalb County health officials in investigating the incident.
Luz Marrufo of DeKalb reported finding the bird head in the beans to the Chronicle Thursday. She took the can to the DeKalb County Health Department at about 2:30 p.m. Friday, health inspector Christel Springmire said.
“It looks like a beak,” Springmire said. “It looks like the profile of a bird head.”
The 15-ounce can will be turned over to the Illinois Department of Public Health next week, she said.
La Preferida spokesman Patrick O'Connor stressed that no one has been injured and no other problems have been reported. Customers who turn in their cans will be given a full refund.
An official with the state health department's Rockford office who said he was not authorized to be quoted by name said the department would most likely have the can and its contents tested at a state lab in Chicago. Results from the test - including whether the alleged bird head is authentic - would then be turned over to the federal Food and Drug Administration.
The official said it would likely take several days to get the results of the test.
Springmire said she offered Marrufo a receipt for the item but Marrufo turned it down.
“She's just like, ‘What do I do?' and I said, ‘I don't know,'” Springmire said.
Marrufo told the Chronicle Friday afternoon that she had spoken with an attorney about the matter but that the attorney didn't think she had much of a case.
The state public health official said he had been under the impression that the alleged head had been found in a can of refried beans. Told that it was in a can of whole beans, he said foreign objects in that environment might survive the canning process with less damage.
Still, it's “highly unusually for a bird to get in there,” he said.
Springmire said David Brand, La Preferida's director of quality assurance, and Bill Strong, a public relations specialist working for the Chicago food company, were at the health department this morning waiting to see the can. They left before it was turned in, she said.
La Preferida is based in Chicago. The beans Marrufo bought were canned in Eaton, Ind.
The batch affected by the recall bears lot number 5348 MF and is marked with a “best by” date of Dec. 14, 2007.
A press release quoted Brand as saying a review of food safety procedures will be undertaken.
“There are still many unanswered questions, buxt we have decided to err on the side of safety,” he said. “We await the results of a more detailed analysis to help us ascertain how the object found its way into the can.”
He said the company has a 50-year history of food safety.
Managing Editor John Kelleher contributed to this report.
Chris Rickert can be reached at crickert@daily-chronicle.com. John Kelleher can be reached at jkelleher @daily-chronicle.com.
Ping a tad late--forgot to add you to the list!
One good tern deserves another, Blur. The company shouldn't just treat this as a lark; this lady may be a loon, but she will try to gull some big bucks out of them, much to their egret.
Huh,that's nuttin'. I once found a bean in my can of birdheads. Yuck!
I'm giving this story the "Wendy's finger" till the facts play out.
Eye don't sea what the problem is....
She paid her bill at the store.
Better Buy -- Birdseye!
Those of us who are of a "certain age" will recognize this slogan and won't get the jingle out of their heads.
"much to their egret."
(GNASHES TEETH!) Why Didn't *I* think of that? That was truly a histork ally bad pun.
Well, Well, this could be another case of TROP just making headway with an animal rather than a human. Where is PETA?
Now that little ditty will be flying around me all day.
High praise coming from you! Hope you won't be veery bittern about it.
"Hope you won't be veery bittern about it."
Well, my tailfeathers are somewhat ruffled at the moment.
I'll just take a deep breath and try not to lose my head (in a can of beans).
There. Things are just ducky. Ahhhhhh.
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