FDA Warns Against Cold Smoked Sprats Sold by Haifa Smoked Fish as Firm Declines Recall
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on October 23 that consumers, retailers, wholesalers, restaurants, and food service customers should not eat, sell, or serve any cold smoked sprats sold by Haifa Smoked Fish, Inc., because the fish were produced without required controls for Clostridium botulinum and are a potential health risk.
The firm is D&M Smoked Fish Inc., doing business as Haifa Smoked Fish, Inc., of Jamaica, New York. FDA said an inspection found the firm was producing cold-smoked sprats without required food safety controls to prevent Clostridium botulinum growth and toxin formation. FDA recommended that the firm recall all cold smoked sprats currently on the market, but the firm declined, and FDA issued the alert to warn consumers about the potential risk of botulism.
All lots of the company's cold smoked sprats are covered. The product is sold in bulk cardboard boxes and shipped refrigerated, and may be frozen for up to one year. It may have been sold at restaurants and grocery store seafood counters with or without a label. Distribution has been confirmed in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, and the product may have been distributed further.
FDA said food contaminated with botulinum toxin can look, taste, or smell normal but still make people sick, and consumers who cannot tell whether their sprats came from Haifa should not eat them. Symptoms of botulism include nausea, vomiting, fatigue or weakness, blurred or double vision, difficulty speaking or a change in voice, difficulty swallowing, descending paralysis starting with the face, respiratory distress, dry mouth, and constipation; in severe cases people can die without intensive care, and anyone with symptoms should seek immediate medical attention. FDA said it will update the alert as more information becomes available.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 市场上的西鲱（资料图，非涉事产品）。 Photo: Jewgienij Bal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
