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China Recalls All Milk Made Before Sept. 14

All liquid and powdered milk made in China before Sept. 14 has been ordered removed from shelves and tested for the chemical melamine. It's the first time since the tainted dairy scandal erupted last month that the government has ordered a blanket recall of products.

"Regardless of the brand or the batch, they must be taken off shelves, their sale must be stopped," the official news agency Xinhua said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

The diary products will only be allowed back on store shelves after they pass quality tests and are labeled as safe, said Xihhua, which did not provide any more details or explain why the recall was taking place now.

Until this week, only some types of milk powder and milk had been recalled in mainland China, the AP reported. A Sept. 16 recall was issued for 69 batches of milk powder made by 22 companies and a Sept. 19 recall was issued for liquid milk.

Florida Growers Want Compensation for Tomato Scare

The Associated Press - Florida tomato growers want the federal government to compensate them for millions of dollars in lost revenue when a nationwide salmonella outbreak occurred and the government first focused on raw tomatoes.

(July 23)[Notes: SHOTS OF FARMHAND PICKING TOMATOES] FLORIDA TOMATO GROWERS SAY THEY WANT COMPENSATION FROM WASHINGTON FOR THE MILLIONS IN LOSSES THEY SUFFERED DUE TO A SALMONELLA INVESTIGATION THAT ORIGINALLY FOCUSED ON RAW TOMATOES.

In addition to the ongoing contaminated tomato crisis, now comes word that there is a widening ground beef E. coli contamination outbreak.

The outbreak of E. coli was initially tied to ground beef made from beef from Nebraska Beef Ltd. The beef was sold in Kroger stores in Michigan and Ohio. Nebraska Beef initially recalled 531,707 pounds of ground beef as a result of the outbreak, but expanded its recall July 3 to approximately 5.3 million pounds.

The outbreak is now in five states: Kentucky, Indiana and New York each confirmed one case of E. coli infections shown to be identical to the strain which already sickened 41 people in Ohio and Michigan.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the E. coli-related illnesses began showing up between May 30 and June 24. No deaths have been reported, but 21 people have been hospitalized and one person developed kidney failure.

The Associated Press - Ways to Eat Safe After Beef, Tomato Scares.

Some tips for safely preparing some outdoor favorites this Fourth of July. The National Consumers League says it's up to consumers to ensure the safety of foods they eat.

Another month and yet another food recall. Over the past few years high profile food recalls have seemingly become the norm. These national or regional recalls, whether it's beef, toys from china, spinach, tomatoes, or peanut butter, is a failure of our food and trade agencies. They have failed to do their job and these failures are catching up with us. The 'us' doesn't only include the consuming public, it also means the produce growers in this particular case because the Food and Drug Administration has not yet identified the source of the contamination. It has been several weeks since the start of the outbreak and with no source identified, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tomatoes have gone to rot because they can't be sold or unharvested or destroyed by tomato growers. Lost revenues often means lost jobs.