Undeclared Allergens Were Leading Cause of FDA Food Recalls in 2011

Feb. 23, 2012 - PRLog -- For all four quarters of 2011, undeclared allergens were responsible for the highest number of recalls by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The fourth quarter saw a spike in recalls overall with market withdrawals due to undeclared allergens far exceeding all other reasons.

Listeria lead to the second highest number of recalls due to the contamination of cantaloupes produced on one Colorado farm in the most deadly food poisoning outbreak in a century. Salmonella contamination was responsible for the third high number of market withdrawals.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, recalls of foods regulated by the FDA increased by 50 percent and 80 percent more units were recalled in 2011’s final quarter.

“EMSL Analytical offers rigorous food allergen testing, including total milk, soy, peanut, egg, gliadin (gluten), almond, crustacean, and many others,” states Joy DellAringa, M.S., RM (NRM), CFSP, National Food Microbiology Supervisor at EMSL. “We also provide leading pathogen testing, such as Listeria and Salmonella.”

“FDA recalls due to undeclared allergens or pathogens can cripple companies, and EMSL Analytical offers a line of defense against them,” she continues.

For more information on EMSL’s food testing services, please contact EMSL at (800) 220-3675, email info@emsl.com, or visit www.EMSL.com or www.FoodTestingLab.com.

About EMSL Analytical, Inc.
EMSL Analytical, Inc. is a full service testing company providing quality lab services under the same private ownership since 1981. Including the corporate lab facility in Cinnaminson, NJ, EMSL Analytical operates over thirty laboratories nationwide in the US and Canada. We provide analytical services for environmental, indoor air quality (IAQ), industrial hygiene, forensics and materials science, consumer products, food safety, PCR, pharmaceutical, asbestos, lead, and radiological samples. The company has an extensive list of accreditations from leading organizations, as well as state and federal regulating bodies. Please see our website for a complete listing of accreditations.

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EMSL Analytical Inc. is a nationally recognized accredited testing laboratory and locally focused provider of consumer product, environmental, microbiology, industrial hygiene, food and materials testing services to professionals and the general public.