Del Monte is recalling hundreds of green apples that contain a dangerous food poisoning bacteria.

Del Monte Fresh Produce has issued a voluntary recall of more than 750 packages of Granny Smith green apples contaminated with a dangerous bacterial organism. The bacteria, known as listeria monocytogenes, attacks the immune systems of children, elderly and sick people.

While the bacteria only cause mild symptoms in healthy individuals, listeria monocytogenes exposure can lead to stillbirths, miscarriages and death.

Recall Details

Pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and the sick are most vulnerable to Listeriosis because these populations have the weakest immune systems.
Image: All Posters

The Granny Smith green apples may either be boxed in a package of 8 or wrapped in clear plastic bags containing 6 apples each. The recall includes 695 boxes and 67 plastic-wrapped bundles.

From Oct. 1 to Oct. 12, the packages were sold to Coremark and 7-Eleven in the Mountain States region. They were sold in convenience stores in  Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The fruit are often sold individually.

Symptoms of listeria monocytogenes infections include high fever, severe headache, stuffiness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Long-term effects include miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women and death of individuals with weakened immune systems.

Del Monte has not received reports of illnesses linked to the contamination. A consumer discovered the presence of bacteria after conducting microbial testing on raw apples.

Recall Solution

Although the recall is precautionary, Del Monte urges consumers to contact the company for a full refund.
Image: LinkedIn

If you purchased packages of Del Monte’s Granny Smith green apples at the beginning of October, your products might be affected by this recall. The FDA urges consumers to throw out products that may be contaminated with the bacteria.

While retailers have been told to remove the products from store shelves, consumers may contact Del Monte Fresh Produce for a refund.

Contact Del Monte via phone at 1-800-659-6500 or email the company at Contact-US-Executive-Office@freshdelmonte.com.

The post Food Safety Recall: Del Monte Granny Smith Apples Linked To Bacterial Infection appeared first on Citizens Report.

Australian researchers used data from the Global Burden of Disease Project to determine the most serious risk factors that can lead to premature death.

A 23-year study shows that smoking, high blood pressure and poor diet are major causes of premature death in the U.S.

The Australian study illustrates global trends related to changing risk factors that lead to early death. Identifying these factors can help policymakers discover threats to population health in order to find solutions to prevent premature death.

The Study

When researchers begun the study in 1990, the major risk factors contributed to 25 million deaths worldwide.  The number increased to almost 31 million deaths during the last year of data collection.
Image: Kent News

The study, published in The Lancet, was conducted by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Melbourne. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it “evaluates how much of the burden of disease observed in a given year can be attributed to past exposure to a risk.”

The researchers collaborated with an international consortium working on the Global Burden of Disease Project, providing a systematic analysis of the data collected.

The study took place from 1990 to 2013 in 188 countries. Researchers measured 79 risk factors that contributed to millions of deaths throughout the 23-year study, including behavioral, environmental, occupational, metabolic and clustered risks.

In 1990, these factors contributed to 25 million deaths. In 2013, the factors had killed almost 31 million people globally.

Previously, the major risk factors included unwashed hands, child and maternal malnutrition, and unsafe water and sanitation. By 2013, smoking, poor diet and high blood pressure have become the most prominent risk factors.

In Australia, the main risk factor is high blood pressure, followed by smoking and high body mass index. In men, the biggest growing risk factor is drug use. In women, the decrease in health is caused by diabetes-related illness, with a 68 percent increase since 1990. Diabetes-related illnesses and high body mass index as a cause of death has increased from 35 percent to 47 percent throughout the study.

Global Risk Factors

Data comes from the Global Burden of Disease Study, a comprehensive research project that assesses mortality and disability from illnesses, injuries, and risk factors.
Image: Enki Village

The top risk factors worldwide include:

• High body mass index is the main risk in the Middle East and Latin America.
• Household air pollution is a most serious health risk in South and Southeast Asia.
• Unsafe water and childhood malnutrition is the biggest risk in India.
• Alcohol use is the second major risk in Russia.
• Smoking causes the most damage in developed countries such as the United Kingdom.
• Child malnutrition, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, unsafe sex, and alcohol use are prominent health risks throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
• Child malnutrition is a global issue, accounting for one in five deaths of children under five-years-old.
• Unsafe sex is a worldwide risk, causing 82 percent of HIV/AIDS deaths and 94 percent of HIV/AIDS deaths in 15 to 19 year olds in 2013. The global burden of unsafe sex increased in 1990 and hit a high point in 2005.

In 2013, the highest number of deaths in the U.S. for both sexes include: 

“There’s great potential to improve health by avoiding certain risks like smoking and poor diet as well as tackling environmental risks like air pollution,” according to Dr. Christopher Murray, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Director.

Murray believes that it is the responsibility of policymakers to enact progressive laws to prevent premature death.

The post Major Causes Of Premature Death Worldwide appeared first on Citizens Report.

The ads work. Almost 3 percent of American men aged 40 and older have been prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. According to figures compiled by Bloomberg Businessweek, sales of testosterone drugs could reach $5 billion by 2017.

But a study released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association is sure to raise questions about the wisdom behind the testosterone rush. It finds that among men with previous heart troubles and low testosterone levels, the use of ‘low-T’ therapy boosted the risk of serious problems including heart attack, stroke — and death.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas reviewed records from more than 8,700 men with low-T levels who underwent coronary angiography — a procedure that uses dye and X-rays to peer into heart arteries — in the Veterans Affairs system between 2005 and 2011.

If you suffered a cardiac injury while taking prescription Testosterone, click here!.

Read more of the article.

Click here to learn more about the side effects of prescription testosterone drugs, such as AndroGel, Axiron, and Testim, as well as the lawsuit settlements victims receive for their injuries.

The manufacturers of the testosterone drug AndroGel have been overrun by lawsuits from patients who’ve suffered side effects.

The FDA has issued a testosterone replacement therapy warning for men with Low-T.

A new nasal Low-T testosterone medication has both positives and side effects.

To learn about other drug side effects, their subsequent lawsuits and settlements, as well as other personal injury cases, CLICK HERE.

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