Posted on 07/13/2007 4:54:33 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
The manufacturer of recalled Veggie Booty snacks says that seasoning imported from China is to blame for a recent outbreak of Salmonella poisoning linked to the popular children’s treat. Robert’s American Gourmet Food, Inc., the Long Island-based maker of the Veggie Booty snack, said in a press release that its own tests confirmed that the seasoning was the source of the Salmonella bacteria. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued the Veggie Booty recall order June 28 after more than 50 cases of Salmonella poisoning were reported in people who had eaten the snack. Last week, Robert’s voluntarily expanded the recall to include Veggie Tings, another of its products, because those are made with the same seasoning used in Veggie Booty. Meanwhile, the Salmonella warning has prompted another company, www.wellbaskets.com, to issue its own consumer warning, as many of the company’s gift baskets include Veggie Booty snacks.
Robert’s press release said the company had suspected that the seasoning was behind the Veggie Booty contamination because it is the only component of the product that is not cooked. Robert’s claims that high temperatures used in the cooking process would have destroyed any Salmonella bacteria found in other ingredients. The seasoning in question, a mixture of various dried vegetables, is added to both Veggie Booty and Veggie Tings after cooking is complete. The FDA has yet to confirm Robert’s findings, but if it does, the seasoning will be the latest in a series of Chinese imports found to be defective. In the past few months, tires, toys, food and other products manufactured in that country have been recalled due to poor design or contamination.
Wellbaskets.com, a company that specializes in “healthy” gift baskets featuring all-natural and organic products, is warning its customers to throw away any Veggie Booty included in its baskets. The snack food is often included in the company’s baskets, which have been featured on Fox News and in Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
Salmonella is a potentially deadly type of food poisoning, symptoms of which included fever, abdominal pain, nausea, gas and bloody diarrhea. Symptoms appear within 36 hours of exposure, and usually last four to seven days. In very severe cases, Salmonella can lead to kidney failure and other complications. Salmonella can be particularly dangerous for children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. Some victims of Salmonella will develop a disease called Reiter’s Syndrome, a difficult- to- treat condition that causes severe joint pain, irritation of the eyes, and painful urination. Reiter’s Syndrome can plague its victims for months or years, and can lead to chronic arthritis.
The FDA is telling anyone who has Veggie Booty treats in their home to throw them away immediately. Robert’s Gourmet Foods is also offering refunds to customers who purchased Veggie Booty or Veggie Tings. Anyone who has eaten the snack foods should be on guard for Salmonella symptoms, and should contact their physician if they experience any gastro-intestinal illness.
“Veggie Booty snacks”? No, I’m not going there...
No sympathy. Their fault for using Chinese products.
So what’s the problem? Isn’t salmonella natural and organic?
Joint and several liability...
The snack food company buys the seasoning mix from a company in Maryland, which apparently obtains the ingredients and makes the mix. “Serves them right for using Chinese ingredients” is really a ridiculous response to this.
In a related story, this week the Chinese executed the former head of their equivalent of the FDA for taking bribes.
Don’t blame China. Make American.
LOL. My first thought, “What’s a veggie booty?” So I did a little googling.
http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=584
That pirate looks like a booty pirate.
My vegetarian ex was addicted to the things. I have to admit they are actually quite tasty when their not giving you salmonella.
No it is not, they should know where all products they buy comes from. If they aren't smart enough to require a disclosure form on their purchases maybe the company that buys their equipment out of bankruptcy will.
What is it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.
As Flavius says—this is chemical warfare! Is it not?
As Flavius says—this is chemical warfare! Is it not?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sure looks that way,,,I just wonder how big this
“Iceberg” is ?!?!...:0/...
Sounds tasty! ~LOL
Unbelievably big—I don’t think China is capable of making a legitamite(sp) product.
It’s kind of like a healthy veggie based Cheeto’s (with a totally different taste), or at least it’s supposed to be, the salmonella kind of puts a crimp on the healthy part.
But the salmonella makes it more organic!
;-P
I wonder what they do to congressmen who have money stashed in their freezer?
I’ll never trust anything that comes from china again,,,
FOX NEWS is starting to “Beat the Drum” on this the last few days,,,
I hope they keep it up.
China Industries International
What the heck is Veggie Booty?
It doesn’t sound like anything I’d feed a kid of mine to begin with.
Ever been in business? It bothers me greatly the amount of trade that is done with China these days given that what we’re basically doing is financing the military they’ll use to expand their empire sometime in the next 20-30 years, but every wonder how hard it is to run a decent sized business and know where every ingredient in every component originates in today’s world? The foil that’s used to make the bags, the ink that’s used to print the bags, the components of the machinery that’s used to fabricate and package the components? Wheat, corn, seasonings, food dyes, whatever else is in the stuff? While your statement sounds nice in an ideal world, it’s the 21st century and whether we like it or not all the economies of the world are intermingles. Any other countries you’d rather not have us using ingredients from? I really think we should be worrying about automobiles, televisions, etc. and work our way down after we’ve got the big things taken care of.
Keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?
Sarmonerra...just another batch of illegal Chinese immigrants.
I guess they got too much heat from the usual suspects over this product - they retired it. ;)
Ping.
What is going to be happening, very soon, is that companies everywhere in the world are going to realize that they cannot trust Chinese ingredients, nor can they trust ingredients from no-name suppliers who might pass on Chinese ingredients.
It won't matter HOW cheap the stuff is. The company that makes Veggie Booty will have lost FAR more money over the Chinese ingredient than they paid for it
Who is going to want to bet his company on the quality of ANY Chinese ingredient? Their liability insurance companies, in self defense, are going to require that they not purchase products unless they can have total certainty that it's not from China
The only solution will be for China, as a whole, to be assigned strict liability for what they export
A hundred years ago, it was really hard to tell if a random product was adulterated with something harmful. A phenomenon which then occurred was that people started buying brand name products, and doing their shopping at stores with reputations. The reason for this, is that once you've built up a brand, or developed a reputation, then there was a value to that reputation that you could lose in an instant if you were not VERY careful about what you sold under your name
So you became very careful about who you got things from. You would only buy from distributors and manufacturers who themselves had reputations to protect. And the chain of reputation and responsibility would continue up the line.
What we have now is a web-enabled world where people and businesses buy things on the Net from companies they haven't heard of before. The true cost and risk of this practice is now becoming apparent. The practice will now stop, between the insurance company requirements and the trial lawyers' lawsuits
I hope they all beat the drum loud and clear.
Further, they have no REASON to.
ROFLOL,
real estate, construction, auto dealer, transportation, investor, cattle dealer, farming, need some more. Been there done that.
Quote: (from Taquitos.net)
"Don't look at the ingredients, just eat them!
And if you do peek at the ingredients, you'll notice they've got all kinds of healthy things in them that snacks just aren't supposed to have."
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