Alfalfa Seed in plastic lined bags labeled in part *** VNS Alfalfa, NET WT.
International Sprout Holding Inc. recalled this product and the FDA reported the enforcement action on 3 December 2014 as Class I. The recall was initiated by the firm. A sample of one lot of product tested positive for salmonella.
The record
Every field below is published by the FDA in the openFDA food enforcement database. Check the FDA notice before acting on any recall: this page is a reading of the public record, not a substitute for it.
- Product
- Alfalfa Seed in plastic lined bags labeled in part *** VNS Alfalfa, NET WT. 25 KG Lot SAL2-3BJ Product of AUSTRALIA, International Specialty Supply ***
- Reason for recall
- A sample of one lot of product tested positive for salmonella.
- Recalling firm
- International Sprout Holding Inc.
- Firm location
- Cookeville, Tennessee, United States
- Classification
- Class I
- Status
- Terminated
- Recall number
- F-0539-2015
- Quantity
- 22,000 lbs.
- Distribution
- CA, FL, HI, IA, MA, MD, MT, NY, OH, and Canada
- Initiated
- 4 November 2014
- Reported by FDA
- 3 December 2014
- Terminated
- 18 February 2015
- Firm notified by
- Two or more of the following: Email, Fax, Letter, Press Release, Telephone, Visit
- Product codes
- SAL2-3BJ
Reading this record
Five things about this record are not in the record itself, and each one changes how it should be read.
- Class I means the FDA judged a reasonable probability that the product would cause serious health consequences or death. The class is assigned by an agency health hazard evaluation under 21 CFR 7.41, not by the firm.
- The firm started this recall itself. Most FDA food recalls are voluntary, and a recall is a food safety plan working rather than failing. The circumstances in which the agency asks for one instead are set out in 21 CFR 7.45.
- This record is the only one the FDA opened for its recall event, so it covers a single product code.
- The recall ran for 3 months, from 4 November 2014 to termination on 18 February 2015. Termination means the agency judged that all reasonable effort had been made, under 21 CFR 7.55, and it says nothing about whether product remained in circulation.
- The distribution pattern names 9 states, and the FDA published the enforcement report 4 weeks after the firm began the recall.
- The product description on this record names no food this site can classify, so it appears on no food-type page. That is a limit of the description rather than of the recall.
Named in the distribution pattern: California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maryland, Montana, New York, Ohio. Those pages count recalls by where the RECALLING FIRM sits, which is a different question from where this product went.
What this recall was for
Salmonella
Salmonella is a bacterium that survives in low-moisture foods for months, which is why it appears in recalls of products that carry no water for it to grow in: nut butters, spices, flour and dry pet food.
A preventive controls plan covers Salmonella contamination under the clauses below. This is where the control belongs, not a finding against any firm named on this page: a recall record states a reason, and most of these recalls were initiated by the firm itself.
- 21 CFR 117.135(c)(1)
- Process controls: the controls that apply a treatment, such as a validated kill step, at the point where it reduces the hazard to a safe level.
- 21 CFR 117 subpart G
- Supply-chain programme: the approval and verification a receiving facility runs on a supplier when the hazard is controlled before the ingredient arrives.
- 21 CFR 117.165(a)(2)
- Product testing: testing as a verification activity, appropriate to the facility, the food and the nature of the preventive control.
Other records from International Sprout Holding Inc.
The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so several of these are frequently one recall event. 6 other records name this firm.
All 7 records for International Sprout Holding Inc.
All 2014 recalls · All FDA food recall data
21 CFR 117.135(c)(1) is the clause behind this recall, and it is one somebody has to produce evidence for at their next audit. Krolda maps supplier documents to the clause they satisfy in FSSC 22000, IFS Food and 21 CFR 117, and routes the corrective action when the evidence is missing.
Early accessRecall records come from the openFDA food enforcement API, published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the public domain. Krolda adds the hazard classification and the clause mapping; neither is an FDA determination. Always check the FDA notice before acting on a recall.