Tag Archives: bread

‘We have comprehensive food safety standards’ Wooden object found in breadrolls bought at Australian Woolworths

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When a woman from Gailes fed her hungry niece a basic ham and cheese sandwich she got a mouthful she wasn’t expecting.

woolies.bread.wood.jan.16Tanya Frost who was babysitting her niece Samantha, 7, made the sandwich using breadrolls purchased from Woolworths at Orion Springfield.

She said Samantha was halfway through the sandwich when she found a wooden object, bigger than a toothpick in the bread.

“It was hanging out of her mouth. I was so shocked because that’s something a child could swallow,” Ms Frost told the Springfield News.

“I checked her mouth and made sure she had no chipped teeth or worse.”

“My parents took the stick and the breadrolls and spoke to the manager of the bakery,” she said.

“She couldn’t really explain how it happened.

“She said they knead the dough by hand, but there were machines there. Then she said they use the machines and then knead it but use their hands to take it out then lay it flat and place the mould over it.”

Ms Frost said the manager denied the wooden object could have been a result of poor bakery practice or faulty machinery.

“The lady did apologise and gave our money back. She also gave us a six pack of new breadrolls,” she said.

A Woolworths spokesperson told the South-West News that, “We have comprehensive food safety and quality standards in place to ensure we are delivering the highest quality products to our customers.”

Employees fingered in Norovirus outbreak linked to bread

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A massive norovirus outbreak amongst school children in Japan has been, according to health authorities, linked to three factory staff who handled bread as part of their jobs. Japan News reports that norovirus was detected in stool samples of the three staff members – signs of the virus were not founds in an additional 16 food handlers who also submitted samples.hlebozavod-0024

The bakery is suspected to have been the cause of a mass food poisoning that affected many primary schools in the city, according to the Hamamatsu city government.
The city government announced Sunday that workers at Hofuku, a company that produced bread deemed to be the cause of the norovirus outbreak, were found to be infected with the virus.

Yoshinao Terada, chief of the city government’s living and health section, said at a press conference, “It is highly likely that persons with the virus took part in the production process leading to contamination of the bread.”

The company ordered the three workers to stay home from work and specialists began sterilizing the plant. 

Asymptomatic norovirus carriers have been linked to lots of outbreaks in the past.  It’s also possible that the individuals were ill, recovered, and still shedding viruses in their stool. My NoroCORE colleague Robert Atmar and colleagues reported in 2008 that noro could be recovered from folks infected with the virus for up to 56 days (with a median of 28 days) – long after symptoms subsided.

Regardless, there are some hygiene issues going on at Hofuku.

1000 kids sick with norovirus linked to bread in Japan

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Bread maker Hofuku, which has admitted one of its products is probably responsible for causing more than 1,000 children in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, to suffer food poisoning, has started recalling its products from retailers, including supermarkets in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi and Okayama prefectures.

According to the Hamamatsu Municipal Government, the bread the local company produced Monday and delivered to schools Tuesday morning is likely to have been tainted sliced_breadwith the norovirus.

The municipal authorities’ inspection Thursday night detected the virus from a rest room slipper at the company’s plant, according to city and board of education officials.

The city ordered Hofuku to suspend operations.

Twenty-three workers were involved in the bread slicing and packaging process at the factory Monday when the norovirus-tainted bread was made.

UK woman finds blood-covered needle in bread

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A woman in Britain opened a loaf of bread to make a sandwich for her 10-year-old child, but discovered a blood-covered needle inside. The needle had been used by a heroin-user.

According to Gulfnews, the woman bought the bread in Pendleton, Greater Manchester. When she noticed the syringe, she handed it in to 13320police, the Daily Mail reported.

Police used DNA tracing to track down 61-year-old David Rodgers of Salford, Greater Manchester, the Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard.

The needle had been pushed through the plastic wrapper by Rodgers, when he visited the shop with his wife, in a desperate attempt to avoid her finding out he was back on the drug.

The man pleaded guilty to contaminating the loaf with intent to cause public alarm.

Weston-owned Australian bakery in food safety scandal

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An employee of one of Australia’s largest bakeries told the television program Today Tonight last night the food safety is crappy at Tip Top’s bakery in Brisbane.

He wants his identity kept secret and claims bread is deliberately put on the ground when loaves bank up in the production process.

“Instead of grabbing it and walking over to the shelves, they grab it and just throw it on the floor”, he said.

His footage also reveals what appears to be a cockroach problem at the bakery.

“That number of cockroaches would be enough that if I was your inspector, I’d fail you for pest control,” said Gary Kennedy, a private food safety inspector who audits bakeries.

“Not only is the product on the ground contaminated, but the fact that what was on the ground goes back on the production line contaminates the line and all the other product,” Gary added.

“This is not acceptable behaviour,” said Rachelle Williams, a long-time food safety advisor.

“What’s on the floor, there’s dust, there’s dirt, there’s grot,” she added.

While the footage shows one loaf being put into a bin, the experts argue all the contaminated bread should have been thrown out.

“You don’t use food that’s been on the floor,” Rachelle said.

The footage also shows the contaminated bread making its way along the production line, before it’s sliced and packaged.

“Staff on the footage that we saw, they were quite confident in what they were doing,” Today Tonight’s insider said.

Today Tonight approached Tip Top’s parent company – George Weston Foods – who admitted the footage revealed “appalling behaviour” involving bread being “mishandled” at their Springwood Bakery.

The company said it was an isolated matter which “occurred during a planned commissioning phase involving the testing of a new conveying system.”

The company has launched its own investigation and called in police.

Repeated requests for proof or even a statutory declaration stating the equipment was indeed new and part of $6 million upgrade have been refused.

The company claims the footage was deliberately constructed by an aggrieved employee, assertions rejected by Today Tonight’s insider, who says it was no set-up, test, or isolated incident.

According to George Weston Foods, Queensland Health inspected the plant on August 20th and the site complied with Food Health and Safety Standards.

The footage taken since then, has Today Tonight’s experts concerned.

Live rat found in loaf of bread in Austrlalia

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Authorities are investigating how a live rat was allegedly able to find its way into a loaf of bread at a Townsville supermarket (that’s in Northern Queensland, Australia) before being sold to an unsuspecting customer.

The gruesome find was made by a shopper who bought a loaf of Helga’s Bread from Coles at Centro in Aitkenvale on Sunday.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was unloading her shopping into a car with a friend when she noticed the slices had holes in them.
 

British dad finds dead mouse in loaf of bread

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A shocked dad went to make lunch for his children – and found a dead mouse embedded in the loaf of bread.

Stephen Forse, 41, bought the Hovis Best of Both loaf at a Tesco grocery store and had already used several slices when he made the gruesome discovery, The Sun reported.

The father of four, from Oxfordshire, central England said: "I felt quite ill – and even worse when an environmental health officer said the tail was missing. I wondered if we’d eaten that earlier."

None of the family fell ill. Premier Foods were fined £16,821 ($28,000) for failing to maintain acceptable standards at their site in Mitcham, south London. A spokesman said: "We apologize profusely."

Gratuitous food porn shot of the day – Sunday morning bread making

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Wearing my trusty safe food Queensland apron – and nothing else because it’s too hot – Sorenne and I had a go at bread making.

This was the first time Sorenne helped because she needed to be steady enough on the chair while kneading the dough. I use a mixture of 50 per cent stone-ground whole wheat flour and 50 per cent unbleached white, sometimes with a little rye flour, salt, honey, yeast, garlic and fresh rosemary from the herb garden. This will get formed into two or three baguettes, or maybe rolls, or maybe a loaf.

Oakridge Calgary Co-op victim of product tampering

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Here I was saying Calgary was a decent place the other day and someone decides to go and put needles or metal in bread or something.

Calgary Co-op Oakridge Centre on Southland Drive and 24th Street SW, Calgary, was the victim of a product tampering incident. As a result, Calgary Co-op has contacted the police and initiated a criminal investigation, and has notified the appropriate health authorities and is working closely with those authorities on the situation. Calgary Co-op has temporarily closed its Oakridge Centre as a precautionary measure and is conducting a complete inspection of its premises.
 
Further, Calgary Co-op is initiating a voluntary recall of its bulk bakery products, bulk food items and packaged cheeses, which may contain small metal objects. To the best of Calgary Co-op’s knowledge, these are the only products tampered with and Calgary Co-op will let the public know as soon as possible if it discovers any other concerns. Customers who may have purchased any of these items since Friday, January 15 at the Oakridge Centre are asked to return them to the Oakridge Calgary Co-op on Southland Drive and 24th Street SW for a full refund.