New Study Shows Food Recalls Are Deadlier Than Ever
As revealed in the study, 2024 saw a whopping 241 food and beverage recalls and alerts, as tallied by the Food & Drug Administration (which oversees about 77% of the U.S. food supply, according to the agency's website). That's 8% more than 2023. However, between the FDA and the USDA, there were 296 recall announcements, which is actually 5% less than 2023.
Importantly, more people got sick from consuming these products, and more people died or were hospitalized as a result than in the previous year. In total, 487 individuals were hospitalized from food-borne illnesses, and 19 people died from contamination. Both of these numbers are more than twice what they were in 2023, which saw 230 hospitalizations and eight deaths. There is, however, some nuance to consider: As the report notes, recalls come from inspections in which foods are deemed risky, so more recalls could mean that more inspections are taking place. Still, the report did highlight some food-related threats that deserve to be taken seriously.
Read more: Canned Foods You Should Never Buy At The Dollar Store
The PIRG study found that some of the biggest bacterial threats in our food are Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli, which together comprised about 39% of the recalls in 2024. All in all, 65 recalls occurred due to potential Listeria contamination — including the deadly Boar's Head Listeria outbreak — and 41 for potential Salmonella contamination.
The biggest cause for recalls, however, was undeclared allergens or ingredients, with peanuts and tree nuts topping the list. Undeclared allergens resulted in 101 recalls throughout the year, making up about 34% of total incidents in 2024. Other reasons for recalls include lead in food and pieces of metal or plastic appearing in food.
Food contamination is a very serious issue — and even more widespread than we know. According to the CDC, one in six people get sick from contamination, and the number of illnesses from a specific outbreak is very likely to be higher than reported, as people who experience less severe illness may not report their cases. With all this in mind, the PIRG study encourages the public to learn about food safety rules to lessen their chances of getting sick.
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Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Starmer issues last-ditch appeal as thousands of doctors to strike
Thousands of resident doctors are beginning a five-day strike after talks with the Government collapsed over pay. Resident doctors will take to picket lines across England from 7am on Friday in a move which is expected to disrupt patient care. Members of the public have been urged to come forward for NHS care during the walkout, and are being asked to attend appointments unless told they are cancelled. GP surgeries will open as usual and urgent care and A&E will continue to be available, alongside NHS 111, NHS England said. Sir Keir Starmer made a last-minute appeal to resident doctors, saying the strikes would 'cause real damage'. 'The route the BMA Resident Doctors Committee have chosen will mean everyone loses. My appeal to resident doctors is this: do not follow the BMA leadership down this damaging road. Our NHS and your patients need you,' he wrote in The Times. He added: 'Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage.' 'Behind the headlines are the patients whose lives will be blighted by this decision. The frustration and disappointment of necessary treatment delayed. And worse, late diagnoses and care that risks their long-term health. 'It's not fair on patients. It's not fair on NHS staff who will have to step in for cover for those taking action. And it is not fair on taxpayers. 'These strikes threaten to turn back the clock on progress we have made in rebuilding the NHS over the last year, choking off the recovery.' It comes after Wes Streeting sent a personal letter to NHS resident doctors, saying: 'I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in.' The Health Secretary said while he cannot pledge a bigger pay rise, he has been committed to progress to improve doctors' working lives. He also said he does not now believe the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee (RDC) has 'engaged with me in good faith' over bids to avert the strike. In the letter sent on Thursday afternoon to resident doctors, Mr Streeting said: 'I wanted to write to you personally about the situation we find ourselves in. 'This Government came into office, just over a year ago, with a great deal of sympathy for the arguments that resident doctors were making about pay, working conditions and career progression. 'I was determined to build a genuine partnership with the… RDC to make real improvements on all three fronts. 'We have made progress together. While some of my critics in Parliament and the media believe I was naive to agree such a generous pay deal to end the strikes last year, I stand by that choice.' Mr Streeting said resident doctors have now had an average 28.9% pay award under Labour. He added: 'Strike action should always be a last resort – not the action you take immediately following a 28.9% pay award from a Government that is committed to working with you to further improve your lives at work. 'While I've been honest with the BMA RDC that we cannot afford to go further on pay this year, I was prepared to negotiate on areas related to your conditions at work and career progression, including measures that would put money back in the pockets of resident doctors.' Mr Streeting said that based on talks with the BMA aimed at averting strikes, he had been determined to tackle the 'arduous' training pathway, and 'I made it clear that I was prepared to agree actions to reduce the costs you face as a result of training'. He said he had also been looking at the cost of equipment, food and drink, and 'was prepared to explore how many further training posts could be created – additional to the 1,000 already announced – as early as possible'. Mr Streeting said talks had been progressing but 'I no longer believe that they (RDC) have engaged with me in good faith'. The Health Secretary continued: 'I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in. 'The public, and I am sure many of you, do not understand the rush to strike action.' Mr Streeting later said there is 'no getting around the fact that these strikes will hit the progress we are making in turning the NHS around'. He added: 'But I am determined to keep disruption to patients at a minimum and continue with the recovery we have begun delivering in the last 12 months after a decade-and-a-half of neglect. We will not be knocked off course.' Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, told the PA news agency health staff will be working 'flat out' to see as many patients as they can during the strike, after NHS England made clear it wants as much pre-planned care as possible to continue. He said: 'Striking doctors should think carefully if they are really doing the right thing for patients, for the NHS and for themselves… 'The strike will throttle hard-won progress to cut waiting lists, but NHS trust leaders and staff will be working flat out to see that as many patients as possible get the care they need.' It is understood that NHS chief Sir Jim Mackey had told trust leaders to try to crack down on resident doctors' ability to work locum shifts during the strike and earn money that way. Leaders have also been encouraged to seek 'derogations', where resident doctors are required to work during the strikes, in more circumstances, the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported. Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: 'These strikes were not inevitable – the Government entered negotiations with the BMA in good faith… 'The impact of these strikes and the distress they will cause patients rests with the BMA.' 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'We're not working 21% less hard so why should our pay suffer? 'We're asking for an extra £4 per hour to restore our pay. It's a small price to pay for those who may hold your life in their hands.' The statement said Mr Streeting had had every opportunity to prevent the strike, but added: 'We want these strikes to be the last we ever have to participate in. 'We are asking Mr Streeting to get back around the table with a serious proposal as soon as possible – this time with the intent to bring this to a just conclusion.' Resident doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training. They have completed a medical degree and can have up to nine years of working experience as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to five years of working and gaining experience to become a GP. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the framing of the BMA advertising campaign was 'disingenuous'. 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'This is a betrayal of the NHS and those who rely on it. 'The public deserves hospitals where the doctors are on the frontline rather than the picket line. 'But every day Labour refuses to stand up to union overreach, Britain moves closer to a health service run on the unions' terms rather than the patients'.'
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
Immigrants forced to eat 'like a dog' in 'overcrowded and chaotic': detention centers
A Human Rights Watch report said three Miami detention facilities subject people to inhumane, at times life-threatening, conditions. Forced to eat the day's only meal "like a dog," with their hands shackled behind their back. Detained for days with nothing but shoes for a pillow and no other bedding ‒ just cold, concrete floors and constant fluorescent lighting. Medical care that denied a man with diabetes insulin for a week and may have contributed to at least one death. A Human Rights Watch report says three Miami immigrant detention facilities have subjected people to conditions so inhumane they have become, at times, life-threatening. Many ICE detention facilities are becoming overcrowded and conditions are deteriorating, according to the July 21 report. The July 21 report, which drew from the testimonials of 17 detainees, examined conditions since President Donald Trump took office in January. Investigators say conditions at the Krome North Processing Center, Federal Detention Center and Broward Transitional Center flout international law on holding people in immigrant detention and federal government standards. The conditions for people held in the detention facilities 'are not the way that any legitimate, functioning government should treat people within its custody,' report author and editor Alison Leal Parker, deputy director of the Human Rights Watch's US Program, said. While the facilities have had issues predating this administration, Parker said Trump administration officials have been unwilling to uphold standards to properly treat immigrant detainees. The conditions indicate the system is "overwhelmed, overcrowded and chaotic," she said. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said claims of subprime conditions at Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers are 'FALSE.' 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One of them failed ‒ a franchise of Dickey's Barbecue Pit, which also bankrupted many other franchisees. He and his wife were seeking permanent residency through a valid EB-5 visa petition when their business collapsed. While Chauhan was never convicted of crimes, he was ordered to pay restitution to Florida for tax issues, court records show. In February, he was turned over to ICE after a routine probation check-in. At the Krome facility, he spent days in cold, crowded processing cells without beds or showers. He said he was denied medical care, including insulin for his diabetes and an inhaler for his asthma. He used his shoes as a pillow. During a tuberculosis outbreak, he said the facility had no soap. Instead, staff made detainees use shampoo to wash their hands. Detainees jokingly said everyone had 'Krome's disease,' a play on Chrohn's disease, a chronic gastrointestinal illness, Chauhan recalled. Detainees were beaten for protesting their treatment, and one man was hogtied, the report said. Officials also used solitary confinement as punishment, according to women who spoke to Human Rights Watch. In June, detainees at Krome signaled 'SOS' to news cameras from the yard over conditions. The report said women were placed at Krome, a privately operated men's facility, where they were crowded in small holding cells without gender-appropriate care or privacy. USA TODAY reported on similar conditions inside Krome, where one man died ‒ an incident Human Rights Watch suspects may have been linked to medical neglect. Akima, a private Alaska Native Corporation that operates Krome, didn't respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. But in response to a Human Rights Watch letter summarizing findings and questions, the company said it couldn't comment publicly on the specifics of its "engagement" with the government, according to the report. 'Like a dog' Midway through his detention, on April 15, Chauhan was placed inside a crowded Federal Detention Center holding cell awaiting transfer without a meal for the day. Styrofoam food containers sat full for hours on other side of the federal prison's bars. In the evening, he and others finally received food. But with their hands shackled at their waist, they were forced to eat by putting their faces to bite into potatoes rolling around, rice and dry chicken, he said. 'You've got to kind of prop it up with your knees and then eat out of it like a dog,' Chauhan said. Another 21-year-old detainee interviewed by Human Rights Watch also described being forced to eat like an animal. The 25 to 30 men forced to eat this way were transferred from the facility several hours later, Chauhan said. Less than a week later, at Broward, Chauhan collapsed in the heat awaiting dinner and was taken to a hospital, with no information given to his family. He had not had his insulin for nearly a week. A 44-year-old Haitian woman, Marie Ange Blaise, died at the facility in April, following a medical emergency that was not treated urgently, according to Human Rights Watch and advocates. "We strongly believe her death could have been prevented," Guerline Jozef, director of the nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance told USA TODAY at the time. "We will continue to demand accountability and protection for people in ICE custody." GEO Group, which operates Broward, denied the report's allegations, including questions about Chauhan's account. The facility has around-the-clock access to medical care, as well as access to visitations, libraries, translation services and amenities, Christopher Ferreira, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement. Support services are monitored by ICE, including on-site personnel, and other organizations within DHS. A 'dark time' in US Chauhan was ordered deported and boarded a flight back to the United Kingdom on June 5. His family, including two adult children, stayed in Florida to close what remains of their businesses. Now living outside London, Chauhan said he plans to keep paying his Florida debt. Even though his family is ready to leave, he hopes to one day return to America. 'Every nation goes through a dark time,' he said. 'I feel this is just a test.' Lauren Villagran contributed to this report. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Over 100,000 Ice Cream Bars Recalled For Listeria Risk—Here's What You Need To Know
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