I note that certain brands of canned tuna are being withdrawn due to contamination.
A voluntary recall has been issued for some canned tuna products — sold across the country at Trader Joe's, Walmart, Costco and other stores — because of a pull tab defect that could lead to potentially fatal botulism food poisoning.
Tri-Union Seafoods issued a voluntary recall for selected lots of canned tuna products that are sold under brand names like Genova, Van Camp’s, Trader Joe’s and H-E-B, the company and the Food and Drug Administration announced in a news release Friday.
The recall was issued “out of an abundance of caution” after, the supplier said, there was a manufacturing defect on the tuna can’s “easy open” pull lid on limited products that could compromise “the integrity of the product seal,” the release said.
The defective lid could cause the product to leak or be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum — described as “a potentially fatal form of food poisoning.”
There's more at the link.
The problem is, more and more cans of food are using the "pull-tab" method of removing the lids, shown below.
These lids do not seal as tightly (hermetically) to the can as the older-fashioned lids that require a can-opener to remove them. Potentially, any can using a pull-tab lid may be more easily contaminated with bacteria, and/or the food inside may go bad quicker, than if it uses a conventional lid.
This is a very important consideration for those of us building up a stash of canned food as part of our emergency preparations. The last thing we want is to give ourselves and our families food poisoning when the availability of medical treatment may be less than optimal! I try to make sure that my stored food supplies use only "conventional" cans, not pull-tab lids, for precisely that reason.
Food (literally) for thought . . .
Peter
4 comments:
Agree with this; lost a whole case of tomato paste that was only in my pantry rotation. They were the new pull tabs.
Accidents happen, especially with smaller companies.
I'm betting some economies and short-cuts were taken.
The fact that you don't have recalls like this from major manufacturers every day is the proof of that.
Sealed is sealed.
If it's not taut, pulled inward, and not bulging, and it passes the sniff test, you're generally good to go.
And acidic foods like Tomato Anything make any can - even can-opener styles - problematic and prone to go bad over enough time.
And btw, the problem with pull tabs is not that don't seal as well as solid tops.
It's that any blow to the top of the can or impact to the can break that seal far more easily. Even inside a cardboard case, or from dropping from height.
Proper handling and proper storage of pull tab cans is thus more important than with hard-top cans.
That means the can isn't the problem, as much as the monkeys handling them. ;)
The sealing issue with these pull tab tops is a feature and not a problem. It makes you not store up canned goods for fear that the seal will not hold. And if it doesn't hold, the food is contaminated and people die, it is good for the environment because most "food hoarders" are despicable, knuckle dragging, flyover people. (The previous sentence is sarcasm.)
Not just cans either. I have a house cat that for some reason known to it, will chew corners of paper - boxes. A foil envelope of tuna - meat is just as suseptible to it - a few 'fang' holes and the seal is compromised.
Not always easy to tell either - durn kitty ! Good thing I like it !! :^)
Post a Comment