Frozen veggie maker recalls all potato products amid listeria fears
Recall by french fries maker Milotal comes day after major tahini manufacturer says salmonella-tainted product reached Israeli stores
Israel’s Milotal Frozen Vegetables company on Friday called on the public to return all its frozen french fries, after lab tests found listeria contamination in the product.
The Hebrew-language news website NRG on Thursday quoted officials from the company as saying that there was no danger to the public since the low temperatures of the freezing process would kill any bacteria.
But in a statement Friday, Milotal said: “Following further examinations by an external lab received today, and for the sake of prudence, it has been decided to expand the recall scale to all frozen chips products.”
The statement extends the list of products the company is recalling to include all frozen potato products.
The recall by Milotal came a day after the CEO of another major food producer, Salatey Shamir (Shamir Salads), said some of its tahina (sesame paste) products tainted with salmonella have hit the shelves, and most likely been eaten by Israeli consumers.
Shamir is one of Israel’s largest hummus manufacturers and the biggest customer of the Prince Tahina factory, which Wednesday announced that its tahina was contaminated and recalled shipments sent to Israeli companies using it to make a wide variety of food products.
Some 200 tons of Prince Tahina’s paste were slated for destruction after Health Ministry inspectors said the product was tainted by the bacteria. Prince Tahina’s recall came too late, Shamir Salads CEO Ami Guy claimed Thursday in an interview with the Ynet news website.
“The tahina supplier notified us too late. We’ve already been producing this [tainted tahina] for 10 days. We can assume that people have eaten from these products,” Guy said.
“In the wake of [Prince Tahina’s] notice and in coordination with the Health Ministry and the National Food Service, company management decided to recall all products made with this ingredient,” a statement from Shamir said Thursday. “We ask customers not to consume these products.”
The list of products feared to be contaminated is as follows:
- All hummus products from the brands Shufersal, Yesh, Shamir, Asli, Hamutag, Delicatessen, Salatey Habait, Yohananof and Picnic, with expiration dates between September 1 and 18, 2016.
- All tahina products from the brands Shufersal, Yesh, Shamir, Asli, Hamutag, Delicatessen, Salatey Habait, Yohananof and Picnic, with expiration dates between September 16 and October 3, 2016.
- All eggplant-tahina products from the brands Shufersal, Yesh, Shamir, Asli, Hamutag, Delicatessen, Salatey Habait, Yohananof and Picnic, with expiration dates between September 1 and 18, 2016.
The Times of Israel Community.