APPA Fine Foods, a Corona, Calif., establishment, is recalling approximately 7,325 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken pasta salad products because they contain cilantro that may be contaminated with Salmonella, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced.

The products subject to this recall are 12-oz. packages of "Spicy Thai Style Pasta Salad." The chicken pasta products were produced on Oct. 25, 27, and 29, 2010. The packages bear the establishment number "P-21030" within the USDA Mark of Inspection as well as a "USE BY" date of Oct. 31 or Nov. 1-6, 2010.

FSIS learned of the problem from the company as a result of an ongoing investigation into a cilantro recall issued by an FDA-inspected establishment. FSIS has received no reports of illnesses associated with the consumption of these ready-to-eat chicken pasta salad products.

Source: FSIS

Russian official: freezing chicken loses its nutritional value

The chief of Russia’s Federal Consumer Protection Service told news agencies that chicken meat loses a significant portion of its nutritional value when frozen, according to research conducted in Russia. Gennady Onishchenko reiterated that the government will ban sales of frozen chicken Jan. 1, reports The Moscow Times.

The decision to ban the use of frozen chicken for the manufacture of all processed products dates back to March 2008, Onishchenko said. The ban now applies only to the production of baby food.

The USDA has states that the ban had “no scientific basis or food safety rationale, and Russia’s chief negotiator in talk to join the World Trade Organization said that several members have called the ban ungrounded and not conforming to WTO standards.

If Russia follows through on its frozen chicken ban, which would eliminate most import, the president of the Russian Meat Union said that the cost of producing and handling chicken meat would increase, leading to higher prices.

Source: The Moscow Times

Arkansas poultry growers looking for specialty markets

A group of Arkansas poultry growers who lost their buyer when the Pilgrim’s Pride facility in El Dorado shut down is working on a plan to sell their birds to specialty markets and avoid large corporations. The Southern Poultry Farmers Association has received a $225,000 grant from the Arkansas Rural Enterprise Center under Winrock International that will help the farmers find new markets.

The group of 26 growers believe that specialty markets will allow them to sell their flocks without having to compete with corporate giants, reports the Associated Press.

"We can change our growing processes on a flock-to-flock basis," said Tommy Choate, SPFA president. Growers would be able to provide large stewing hens for a time and then switch to smaller broilers, for instance.

As much as $100,000 of that will help Union County growers develop more sustainable selling options, said Annett Pagan, a program director with Winrock International, a Rockefeller family organization.

"We have to get some experts looking at the marketing aspect of a specific type of bird that may be grown in a different way," she said. "It's looking at, 'OK, we found a market for us for this kind of bird, what would it take for us to get this production up?' We need to look at where they are now and where they want to go."

Choate said growers would rather not ally themselves with another big poultry company, which could pull up stakes at any time.

"We need to claim our own destiny here instead of just being a contractor," he said. "We're going to look for alternative markets that are out there that we could fit into."

Source: Associated Press, El Dorado News-Times

New Oklahoma governor, attorney general to review poultry pollution lawsuit

Oklahoma’s governor-elect Mary Fallin said that she and the state’s new attorney general, Scott Pruitt, will talk with area poultry farmers and review the state’s lawsuit against several Arkansas poultry companies over their alleged pollution of the Illinoir River watershed.

Fallin's spokesman Alex Weintz said Saturday the case is one of many legal matters Fallin will look at when she takes office, reports the Associated Press. Weintz says poultry farmers expressed concern about the fairness of the case, but he said Fallin hasn't concluded whether the lawsuit is proper or improper.

Campaign finance records show employees from some of the companies named in the lawsuit contributed about $15,000 to Pruitt's campaign.

Source: Associated Press, KFSM News

New study links meat to stomach and esophageal cancers

A new study suggests that meat eaters have a greater likelihood of developing certain cancers of the throat and stomach than people who limit their red meat intake. Researchers found that among nearly 500,000 older U.S. adults followed for a decade, only a small number developed cancers of the esophagus or stomach. However, the risks were relatively greater among those who ate a lot of red meat, or certain compounds generated from cooking meat, reports Reuters.

Overall, study participants in the top 20 percent for red-meat intake were 79 percent more likely than those in the bottom 20 percent to develop esophageal squamous cell carcinoma -- a cancer that arises in the lining of the upper part of the esophagus.

Meanwhile, the risk of a type of cancer in the upper portion of the stomach near the esophagus (gastric cardia) was elevated among men and women with the highest estimated intake of one form of heterocyclic amine (HCA). HCAs are compounds that form when meat is cooked using high-temperature methods, such as grilling over an open flame; they have been found to cause cancer in lab animals.

The study was reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. The researchers emphasize that red meat promotes the two cancers. However, there have been other studies that drew links between red meat consumption and the cancers in the past.

To read the Reuters article and follow a link to the study, go to http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A43IG20101105.

Source: Reuters