McCormick & Company Recalls Golden Dipt® Fry Easy All-Purpose Batter Due To the Presence of Unlabeled Egg Ingredient

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC), with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has issued a voluntary recall of Golden Dipt® Fry Easy All-Purpose Batter, 10 OZ, having the UPC Code 4123470111 and to be used by NOV 17 11 AH as a limited number of packages of the product possessing this date code are said to contain an egg ingredient which does not show on its label. Therefore, people who are allergic to egg are at risk of virulent and also life-threatening allergic reactions on consuming this product.

However, no illness or allergic reactions have been recorded till date.

DETAILS OF THE RECALL

The recall of Golden Dipt® All-Purpose Batter is restricted to only one geographical area of the US that is the southeastern parts. The packages were distributed to grocery stores from January 2010.  The product affected by the recall is packaged in cartons of 10 OZ, and the date code is printed in white ink at the bottom of the carton.

All grocery stores selling Golden Dipt® Fry Easy All-Purpose Batter product are being asked to remove the affected product (UPC Code 4123470111 and date code “BEST BY” NOV 17 11AH) from their shelves with immediate effect. However, consumers do not need to return the product to the store from where they had purchased these.

The recall was enforced by McCormick & Company after it discovered that there was a packaging error in the product, resulting in a pouch of funnel cake batter (containing an egg ingredient) being packaged in the package of Golden Dipt® Fry Easy All-Purpose Batter. The ingredients mentioned on the package do not list egg.

ABOUT FDA RECALLS

It must be mentioned here that all recalls by manufacturers are categorised by FDA as Class I, Class II or Class III recall based on level of health hazard involved. While in some cases, the manufacturing company itself discovers the snag the product and recalls it from the market, in others, FDA informs the company concerned — as in case of Del Bueno — of its findings on a product and suggests a recall with which the company usually complies. If the company does not recall, the FDA is authorised to seek legal action under the provisions of the FD&C Act.

LAWS TO PROTECT CONSUMERS AGAINST MISLABELING

Statistics have revealed that in the US, 2 percent of adults and about 5 per cent of infants and children suffer from some form of food allergies.

In order to tackle this, the Congress passed the Food Allergen Labelling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) in 2004 as an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). The FALCPA has made it mandatory to declare on the label the presence of what has been categorised as “major food allergen”. Eight foods or food groups — milk, eggs, fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod), Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp), tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans), peanuts, wheat, and soybeans — fall under this category. The Act declares that all products without these allergens mentioned on the label will be ordered by the FDA to be removed from the shelves. In case of non-compliance with the order, FDA has the right to forcibly remove it and impose a penalty on the company.

Besides, the FD&C Act Chapter IV on Food Sec. 403 [21 USC §343] Misbranded Food also contains details of punitive actions that can be adopted in case of faulty labelling.

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