April 4, 2017 - 7:02pm
Robin Hood Flour recall
in Canada because of e.coli contamination, this seems limited to the 10kg bags. Would there still be a potential of illness even when used to bake bread and has been fully cooked. For me it is just a hypothetical question but non of the news seems to answer it.
Gerhard
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possibility of contamination in the flour itself, but in all of the things that it can come in to contact with and contaminate on the way to the oven.
Realistically, flour is one of the most difficult items to try to isolate, since there are always small particles which become airborne and will land anywhere in the kitchen and possibly contaminate that area. Nobody ever gets ALL of the flour in to the oven - there is some on their hands, and some on their work area, and some in the air --- and often, some getting tasted before the final item ever gets to the oven (cookie dough, anyone?). While we all try to practice safe-handling procedures and good hygiene, it is not worth the risk to open and use one of these recalled bags.
The media / government / company are not going to take the responsibility of ever saying that it MIGHT be alright to use if every last speck was cooked --- it would give them too much liability if someone else got sick. They have to keep it as a total and strict recall with a do NOT use at all ruling.
I'm not affected either (I purchase Roger's instead), but was glad to see that the media is really pushing the strict do NOT use.
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2017-04-04c/eng/1491342892732/1491342895825
Cherie asked and I said I would think if it is cooked it should be safe, but I did not consider the dust and cross contamination, not big on eating raw dough though but not totally opposed. Also wondered how the contamination was limited to the 10 kg bags, I would imagine that equipment would be shared between different sized packs.
Gerhard
because I use their multigrain flour and cross contamination from their machines did cross my mind. So far, it's seems to be only their regular all purpose flour. The remaining flours such as wholewheat, multigrain and unbleached seem to be okay. For now...
Without contacting Robin Hood Flours we do not know what mill or mills this flour was processed in. It well could be in a contract mill or location. J. M. Smucker’s owns Robin Hood and other flour brands both in Canada and the USA. White Lily “a Southern Staple” is produced in mills in Ohio, Smucker’s closed their mill in Knoxville, TN a number of years ago. Even when the Knoxville mill was still open, much of the flour was contract milled in Ohio from Ohio wheat. I like White Lily flour for biscuits and pancakes. (I have no money connection to Smucker’s even if my family name is Smucker. My great grandfather and the founder of the company were first cousins.)
The latest I read stated it was limited to all purpose flour in 10 kg bags. They interviewed someone from the University of Guelph on CBC radio this morning and he said once cooked it would be safe to consume but personally I think if I had some of that flour I would throw it out. Originally the recall covered western Canada but has since been expanded to cover all of Canada and apparently the flour was milled in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cfia-robin-hood-flour-recall-ecoli-1.4044492
Please note, I am just providing some scientific explanations and not any health recommendations!! Almost all bacteria is killed at temperatures of 160F. this is the current USDA food safety recommendation for cooking of poultry that might harbor Salmonella and ground meat that might harbor E. coli.
...and, of course, there is a lawsuit already filed:
http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/04/13/caanda-expands-robin-hood-recall-as
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2017-04-12/eng/1492038924857/1492038929165