On the heels of a CDC Food Safety Alert issued December 9, 2019, regarding Fresh Express Sunflower Crisp Chopped Salad Kits, that involve a multistate and Canadian outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 comes another recall; Frozen Breakfast Burritos.
It seems the recalls are normal occurrences nowadays, with only hours, days, or maybe a week, between each new one.
The Burritos
This time we’re looking at frozen breakfast burritos from Ruiz Food Products Inc., in Florence, S.C. According to the FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service), the not ready to eat (NRTE) frozen burritos with ingredients of eggs, sausage, and cheese may be contaminated with pieces of plastic.
Remember, a Food Recall occurs when there is reason to believe that a particular food may cause consumers to become sick, and is sometimes different than an outbreak of foodborne illness. A product can be recalled for many reasons including discoveries of foreign contaminants, major allergens that don’t appear on the product label (for example; peanuts), and/or bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. An outbreak of foodborne illnesses is restricted to foodborne pathogens.
This has happened before.
This isn’t the first time Ruiz Food Products has been involved in a recall this year. In June, this time from Denison, TX., they recalled 246,514 pounds of breakfast wraps for “extraneous materials, specifically small rocks“, and in October of 2018, almost two and 1/2 million pounds of ready to eat meat and poultry taquitos were also recalled due to possible salmonella and listeria monocytogenes.
The current recall product of “El Monterey Signature Burritos” was produced on October 15, 2019, were shipped to stores across the United States, and made the USDA recall list today, December 10, 2019. The company, Ruiz Food Products, Inc., notified FSIS of three customer complaints regarding the burritos that involved pieces of white, semi-rigid plastic found in the product. Because of that, 55,013 pounds of frozen breakfast burritos are in the recall. There have been no reports of injuries from customers at this point, however, officials urge that anyone with the burritos throw them away or return them.
How do we know which burritos have been recalled?
The products in this recall have the establishment number “EST 45694” printed on the value pack bag and the individual wrappings, next to the lot code. If you have any questions about the recall you can contact Ruiz Foods Products Inc., Consumer Line at (800) 772-6474.
What about the salads?
In regards to the Food Alert that involves the outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections, do not eat or sell Fresh Express Sunflower Crisp Chopped Salad Kits with this identifying information that is printed on the front of the bag in the top right corner:
- UPC 0 71279 30906 4, beginning with lot code Z
- and a best-before date up to and including 07DEC19.
If you find you have this kit in your refrigerator, wash and sanitize drawers or shelves where it was stored. You can sanitize your fridge with a ratio of 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon of cool water. Wipe with the solution and let it stand for 2 minutes, then dry-wipe or air dry.
The latest news on this E. coli infection outbreak shows eight people infected with the outbreak strain, three people have been hospitalized, and one person has developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported. This has been reported in 3 states. The Centers for Disease Control says the investigation is ongoing to determine what ingredient in the salad kit was contaminated. While romaine lettuce is one of the ingredients, it’s not known yet if this outbreak is linked to the E. coli outbreak regarding romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California, growing region.
Great resources for Recall How-To’s, Sanitizing, and E. coli:
- Bleach, Hand Sanitizer, or Natural Cleaning Products? What To Use When by Cat Ellis
- Everything You Need to Know About E. Coli by Sandra D. Lane
- How-To Steps In Dealing With Recalled Food by Dr. Linda M. Katz
About Sandra
Sandra is a wife of 38 years, a mother of 3 awesome grown children, a published artist, photographer, fellow prepper, and animal advocate. She is a strong proponent of the Second Amendment, an avid gun owner, a woman of faith, and values honesty and loyalty above all else.
Notice all these recall involve processed foods!
Make your own & stop being so lazy.
The more you make or grow on your own the bigger the dent in the companies profits.
They won’t like that one bit.
Send them broke.
Then they’ll pay more attention to their processes.
That cow and tomato plant produces highly processed meats and tomatos. Better not eat that too.
My wife and I decided to do that several years ago. Best move we ever made. We Love it! It creates a very nice team effort and and makes us feel that we do have some control. Very good point!
This gave me the motivation to finally get my indoor lettuce growing.
Sprout and Micro greens are faster and easy.
Maybe it is time to look at who is physically working in those farms, ranches, or processing plants. The CDC and the FDA need to inspect them and test all the equipment used. I’ll guarantee you that those processors are not keeping up with their supposed sanitation guidelines nor do the low wage workers.
The number of inspections done at any food (or drug) plants has significantly decreased since the 90s – “deregulation” is killing business. More like it is killing us. The budgets for most regulatory agencies are no where near the levels required to keep us safe.
A lot fewer safety inspections and in some places, few laws on the books to ensure safe construction.
And in case you missed it, the FDA is approving new drugs at break neck speed. That doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy either. While a few of the drugs may be for those with rare diseases for which no other form of treatment is available (or didn’t work), allowing people to be human guinea pigs gives me pause. I’m sure I’d be in the right frame of mind to sufficiently determine if I should risk the new drug or not. Fear of the cure being worse than the disease.
Sorry to say but it seems like most of what is recalled is instant or made in a factory etc…Are we becoming so lazy that we aren’t able to buy or grow a head of lettuce or a 3 pk. of romaine at the store, buy what all we want to put in the salad and make it all at home? Wash if off good, chop it all up on a cutting board and make it by hand. Then AFTER we make the salad we wash off the cutting board with dishwashing soap and HOT water. But instead of buying items and washing them ourselves and making them, we buy all of this pre-made garbage…I see people in the stores all the time picking up pre-made packages. Even told one lady a while back that they were not fresh and had e-coli or salmonella or whatever it was at that time in them and she said, “it’s quick and easy”, and took it and walked off. OKAY, her problem.
I NEVER buy anything like that already made unless it’s absolutely necessary…I know it’s hard to avoid these things. but we can be cautious and use some common sense.
Right now I am sick with food poisoning from what we think was a burger in a restaurant that I ate in last Friday. I had the runs/diarrhea really bad and was throwing up several times. My stomach has been twisting and twirling and making funny gurgling sounds since last Sat. I got dehydrated and my urine was orange (yuck)! I felt horrible for (today is the 5th day now), and I’m still not back to my normal…Hoping by tomorrow I will be. Gonna boil some potatoes for supper and see how that sits. Just drank 1 cup of coffee this a.m. for the first time since last Sat. morning. ( I did miss it). I’ve lived for 5 days on a few crackers, bottled water, sprite, Jell-O and apple sauce (that’s it NOTHING else)…SO I know first hand what it’s like.
It may have been that burger or the poor sanitation in the kitchen b/c we don’t know who is touching the food that we are putting in out mouth. Could have been the cole-slaw also (b/c it may have been come to them in a big bag and NOT freshly made in the kitchen (so we never know).
Would be nice to go into the kitchen and inspect before the meal hahaha…But do the workers wear hair nets, gloves and even with gloves they still touch everything? Do they wash their hands after using the bathroom? So I suppose we can only be “so safe” whether its from the grocery store or from the local mom and pop restaurant. Our health department needs to do a BETTER job of inspection and perhaps more frequently to possible cut down on these hazards… Being sick for 4 days has been no fun and I’ve been at home the entire time. A woman went to the store for me and got me what I needed (soft foods) and sprite to get me by until I was better. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be able to make rice and chicken for supper (a real partial meal ) anyway to gain more strength but in the meantime it’s boiled potatoes and apple sauce and some sprite haha.
@Wandakate,
Concerning your first paragraph . . . yep!
I mentioned in another recall article, I think they should ship all produce with the dirt still on them. Let the onus be on the end consumer to wash the fruits and veggies.
But as you mention, our society has become so lazy we dont want to have to spend the time and effort to wash lettuce.
Your second paragraph . . . yikes! Sorry to hear that and I hope you feel better soon!
So sorry you’re sick. Remember the BRAT diet for diarrhea. Bananas, Rice or just rice water if really bad, Apple sauce, Toast. It really does help. The other thing that would have helped the first day is a packet of activated charcoal powder to mix in water and drink. It absorbed a lot of what is causing tour problem. It’s good for more than just a poison antidote.
Wow, I just bought a bag of El Monterey burritos. I also believe the hiring of immigrants has a lot to do with this.
People don’t understand that foreign third world countries do NOT have or UNDERSTAND sanitation. Please put this in your mind.
Plastic pieces have nothing to do with sanitation and everything to do with inspecting machines and maintenance/routine maintenance/replacing machines. You might want to review what you typed “please don’t understand”? And don’t assume immigrants are all from 3rd world countries. Even if they are, most are motivated to do a good job as they want to be in the US. But by all means do write your congressman and senators expressing your opinion on sanitation in 3rd world countries. Most drugs are manufactured overseas as well as many other products we consume.
Romans is part of this recall.
I gotta bad feeling that the govt has.et the food industry inspect their own stuff. Just like they let Boeing with the 737 or whatever the number was.
By the way. I spent over 6 years in north and Southeast Asia. They have been washing their since my first trip in 68. There are quality soaps for veggies in our grocery stores in this country. We use a product simply called “VeggieWash”. It appears to be nature ingredients, though not organic. Amazon carry it too.