Food Recall From Listeria Threat Expands

Yogurt, salads, and sandwiches have been added to the list of listeria-contaminated foods recalled from Starbucks, Race Trac, and convenience stores in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.


Previously, the list included some 7,000 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken, turkey, beef, and pork products.
The foods came from a single source: Flying Foods LLC, based in Georgia.

Starbucks says that even before the expanded recall, it had pulled all Flying Foods products off its shelves and destroyed them.

The products in the expanded recall were distributed by Core-Mark to various convenience stores and drug stores in all three states. They were also sold at Race Trac stores in Georgia and by Starbucks shops in Georgia and Alabama.

No illnesses associated with the products have been reported. However, listeria can cause fatal or disabling infections in some people, particularly people with HIV, people taking immune-suppressing drugs, elderly people, and pregnant women.

The recalled products are:

Core-mark Atlanta Division (distributed in Alabama, Georgia, Florida):

• 8.5-ounce packages of “Sano Very Berry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/23 - 8/3
• 8-ounce packages of “Sano Triple Cherry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/23 - 8/3
• 6.4-ounce trays of “F & L Café Salad, Chicken Caesar Salad” that have “Best Before” dates of 7/23 - 8/3*
• 6.9-ounce trays of “F&L Café Salad, Chef Salad” that have “Best Before” dates of 7/23 - 8/3*

Race Trac (distributed in Georiga):

• 9.05-ounce packages of “Turkey Quarter Pounder with Tomatoes” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 -7/28
• 4.95-ounce packages of “Egg Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 4.95-ounce packages of “Chicken Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 7.8-ounce packages of “Chicken Quarter Pounder” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 7.38 ounce packages of “Turkey Quarter Pounder” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28
• 8.8-ounce packages of “Chicken Quarter Pounder with Tomatoes” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 8.4-ounce packages of “Jumbo BBQ Pork Sandwich” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 7.38-ounce packages of “Ham Quarter Pounder” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 9.05-ounce packages of “Ham Quarter Pounder with Tomatoes” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 10.17-ounce packages of “American Sub” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 5.57-ounce packages of “Tuna Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 9.75-ounce packages of “Turkey Wrap” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28*
• 10.3-ounce packages of “Chicken Caesar Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28*
• 7.88 ounce packages of “Chicken Caesar Wrap” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28*
• 9.8-ounce packages of “Cobb Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28*

Starbucks (distributed in Georgia and Alabama):

• 6.6-ounce packages of “Egg Salad Sandwich” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.9-ounce packages of “Chicken Chipotle” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 7.5-ounce packages of “Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5-ounce packages of “Roma Tomato & Mozzarella” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.4-ounce packages of “Turkey and Swiss Sandwich” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.5-ounce packages of “Ham and Swiss” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 8.1-ounce packages of “Strawberry and Blueberry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/27
• 8.1-ounce packages of “Dark Cherry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/27
• 6.1-ounce packages of “Greek Yogurt & Honey Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/27
• 8.3-ounce packages of “Sesame Noodles Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15 - 7/26
• 5.3-ounce packages of “Cheese & Fruit Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.8-ounce packages of “Protein Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.9-ounce packages of “Tuna Salad Plate Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.1-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Roasted Tomato & Mozzarella” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.1-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Roasted Vegetable” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.1-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Chicken Santa Fe” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.2-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Ham & Swiss” that have “Enjoy By’ dates of 7/15-7/26
• 8.4-ounce packages of “Chipotle Chicken Wraps Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/26*
• 6.3-ounce packages of “Chicken & Hummus Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/26*
• 4.6-ounce packages of “Salumi & Cheese Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26*
• 7.3-ounce packages of “Chicken Lettuce Wraps Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26*

*These packages bear the USDA establishment number "P-34373" or EST. 34373 inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Walter Reed Hospital Holds Closing Ceremony

History has marched through the halls of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where presidents, princes, kings and generals mingled in their hospital gowns. 

Lyndon B. Johnson visited an ill, pajama-clad Richard M. Nixon during the 1960 campaign. President Harry S. Truman went to his first church service here after taking office. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill that established the Interstate highway system in 1956, while a patient here, according to John Pierce, a retired Army colonel and an expert on the history of the hospital. Eisenhower later spent the last 11 months of his life in the presidential suite, as his health declined, his wife, Mamie, living in a small room nearby.

So Walter Reed’s closing — scheduled for the end of August when the keys to its stately brick buildings will be given to the State Department and the District of Columbia — drew an emotional response from many gathered Wednesday to commemorate the occasion. Flags were folded and put away. Songs were sung. A sword was handed down, to symbolize the transition.

“These doors may close, the address may change, but the name, the legacy and, most important, the work and healing will endure,” said John M. McHugh, secretary of the Army, in a speech at the ceremony.
It was the end of an era for Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the principal hospital for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, which next month will be moved to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and to a new facility in Fort Belvoir, Va.

The hospital’s patients will be moved in ambulances one by one, and outpatients, currently about 430, many of whom live in housing in the Walter Reed complex, will be moved in cars and moving vans over two weekends in August.

Maj. Gen. Carla G. Hawley-Bowland, commander of the Army’s Northern Regional Medical Command, to which Walter Reed belongs, said the move was intended to reduce the number of facilities — three in the Washington area, including Walter Reed — in order to better fit the military’s needs. Treatment has improved significantly in the past two decades and today requires less inpatient care, and more outpatient capacity, something the new medical centers will have, the general said.

The center’s reputation took a hit in 2007, when The Washington Post published a series of articles exposing poor living conditions and excessive bureaucracy for soldiers at the hospital. In response, officials established a unit designed to assist troops in every stage of the recovery process.

Its medical care is among the best in the country, particularly in the area of prosthesis, which have improved significantly since the Persian Gulf war in 1991. General Hawley-Bowland said soldiers now had prosthetic arms that allow them to do push-ups and hold rifles, innovations that did not exist for patients in the past.

Joao Silva, a photographer for The New York Times who was wounded in a mine blast in Afghanistan last fall and has been treated in the facility, is now walking briskly on his prosthetic legs. He photographed the event for the newspaper.

Charles Dasey, a spokesman for the hospital, said the number of inpatients, currently about 150, will decline to about 50 by the time of the move. New patients, who arrived on a regular schedule Tuesday night, will begin to be diverted directly to Bethesda in early August, he said.

The ceremony, which concluded with parachutists swooping down on the hospital lawn with colored smoke trailing behind them, was a chance for everyone to come together before the move began, General Hawley-Bowland said. “This brings closure,” she said. “It’s a celebration of what Walter Reed has meant.”
Gen. John J. Pershing and Gen. Douglas MacArthur died here. In 1960, Nixon, haggard and thin with an infected knee, left the hospital against his doctors’ advice to take part in the first televised presidential debate, according to Mr. Pierce.

It grew from 80 beds to more than 2,500 during World War I. It now has a capacity of about 250, and serves approximately 150,000 soldiers, their family members and military retirees.

The refurbished Bethesda facility, to be renamed the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, will have a 340-bed capacity, Mr. Dasey said, and will be run by all branches of the military, not just the Army.

Patients with the most serious injuries will be taken there. The new Fort Belvoir hospital will have 120 beds.

Together, their capacity is enough to cover the current number of patients, Mr. Dasey said. Any surge in need will be handled, in part, by retirees being treated in civilian hospitals.

“This place carries a lot of memories,” General Hawley-Bowland said. She added, “My folks will take Walter Reed’s legacy along with them.”

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

Holly Petraeus Works to Protect Military Families' Finances

As a longtime financial advocate for military families, Holly Petraeus knew she could bring extensive work experience to the table when she was tapped to lead the new Office of Servicemember Affairs earlier this year.

But for this Army spouse who grew up in a military family, it’s more than just a job.
“It’s very personal,” said Petraeus, wife of Army Gen. David H. Petraeus. “I’ve lived in this military community my whole life; I have a real heart for these people. They’ve all raised their hand to do what they do, often at the risk of their lives.”

With Petraeus at the helm and after months of ground work, the Office of Servicemember Affairs officially opened its doors this week as part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It’s designed to protect service members and their families from financial predators and pitfalls through education and enforcement of state and federal laws.

Having grown up in the military culture, Petraeus said, she’s familiar with many financial issues, but has made a point to meet with service members and their families across the nation to find out about their challenges firsthand. Mortgages and spouse employment top the list of concerns, she said, which isn’t surprising in light of the struggling economy and housing market.

When service members get orders to move, they’re often under water on their mortgage, she said, meaning they owe more than the house is worth.

“There are no easy answers,” she said. “Some [service members] are choosing to leave their families and go forward by themselves to the next assignment, which is really like another deployment, but for financial reasons.”

Foreclosures are another pressing concern, Petraeus said, noting the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act offers some protections to service members serving on active duty. For example, if a mortgage predates military service, then the service member is protected from being foreclosed against without a court order. Additionally, through the act, service members can ask for their interest rates on debt to be lowered to 6 percent, if the debt was accrued prior to active military service.

However, she said, some lenders aren’t complying with this act. In some cases, service members didn’t get an interest rate reduction or were told they did, but the records didn’t reflect that it had happened. “Families started getting calls from collectors, and in some cases, it evolved into threats of foreclosure,” she said. “And all this was while the service member was deployed and trying to do an important job.”
Additionally, some large banking institutions discovered they had foreclosed on a number of people without a court order, she added.

In turn, frequent moves can be challenging for military spouses who would like to pursue a career, she said. Spouses also often run into roadblocks when trying to renew an occupational license in a new state of residence, or when applying for a new one.

In her travels, Petraeus said, she also hears about general consumer issues, such as difficulties finding a good deal for a car or the burdens of credit card debt.

“For a new recruit getting a paycheck for the first time, there’s a temptation to spend it on cars, electronics, all those things you think you have to have,” she said. “Then you get locked into a contract for years where you’re paying back for that thing.”

The Office of Servicemember Affairs will help to address these issues, and more, Petraeus said. The office, she explained, will ensure military personnel are given a quality financial education, monitor consumer complaints and the response to those complaints, and work with other federal and state agencies to help resolve issues.

Service members represent “a large population that gets a guaranteed paycheck and are very attractive to people who want to get a piece of that paycheck,” she added. “By and large, they’re young, and they may not be very experienced as well in consumer things, and that can hurt them too.”

While financial issues can hit any family hard, they can have a resounding impact on a military family, Petraeus said. A bad credit report can lead to a lost security clearance, she noted. And financial issues can take their toll on a family already dealing with the stressors of deployment.

Military members and their families make great sacrifices and deserve the best financial protections in return, she said, “and I’m in a position to do something about that.”

By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service


 

Budget Woes Top List of Concerns in Afghanistan

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, July 30, 2011 – Budget cuts -- not operational issues -- are the main concern of soldiers and Marines assigned here.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is holding troop talks throughout the country and is being peppered with questions about the U.S. debt crisis and the future of military benefits.

Mullen thanked service members in Kandahar and here for their sacrifices. At both talks he stressed the effects of change and being ready for unexpected change. He also stressed the need for leadership at all levels.

Then he threw the floor open for questions. In both places, soldiers and Marines expressed concern about the debt negotiations. “The discussion really centers on providing by law an increase in the debt ceiling so the United States can pay its bills,” the chairman said. “And the bills really run the full spectrum. I really don’t know the answer to the question to how, if we default, how that will work out.”

The U.S. Treasury delivers service members’ pay checks, and sends them to veterans and Social Security recipients. “That’s something that the government leadership will have to figure out,” he said. “I honestly hope we don’t get there. But I don’t expect it will affect -- certainly in the short term -- operations here and operations around the world.”

Assuming a solution to the debt crisis is reached, the chairman discussed what the defense budget will look like. He said there is increasing pressure overall on the federal budget to reduce the deficit. This has to be addressed, he said.

“I’ve said for a long time, I believe that the single biggest threat to national security is this growing debt,” he said. “The more that grows the more likelihood that the defense budget will get smaller.”

This is a problem because no one knows what could confront the United States in the future. “We have some significant national security requirements to meet now, and the best I can tell, they are not going to go away,” Mullen said. “As that budget pressure builds … we’re going to have to make decisions on what we’re going to do and what we’re not going to do.”

Still, the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are on the top of the Defense Department’s priority list. All the defense leaders, he said, “are very focused on getting you what you need here in the fight. I don’t see any circumstances where that won’t be at the top of the list.”

Hiring Vets Makes Positive Investment, General Says

Hiring military reservists and veterans is a positive investment for America, the deputy director of U.S. Army Reserve Command told federal hiring officials yesterday.

Army Maj. Gen. Jon J. Miller, deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, tells federal human resource managers how the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces program can help them find qualified veteran candidates for jobs during the Veterans Employment Symposium, July 27, 2011, in Washington, D.C. U.S. Army photo by Lt. Col. Matthew J. Leonard (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Reservists and veterans have a "vast resource of capabilities" that provides a distinct hiring pool for federal civilian jobs, Army Maj. Gen. Jon J. Miller said at the Veterans Employment Symposium, held here by the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Labor and Homeland Security, and the Office of Personnel Management. The purpose of the symposium was to help federal hiring officials improve practices for hiring veterans.

Miller highlighted the Employer Partnership of the Armed Services, which the Defense Department created last year to help separating service members, veterans and reservists find jobs.

"The Employer Partnership career portal is like a Monster.com, but tailored for the military," Miller said. "Not only can job seekers find positions they are looking for, but employers can also reach in and find the quality candidates they need."

The general said it makes sense to hire veterans and reservists, since the military has spent so much effort to grow them into leaders. "And not just leaders in the field, while in uniform," he added. "We've taught them to be leaders in whatever they do."

The Army Reserve has adopted the idea of transitioning soldiers from active duty to reserve duty, while keeping the door open to shift between statuses until the soldier retires, Miller said. "Although we want them to continue to serve in America's army in uniform, we are nonetheless doubly gratified when they answer another call to public service," he said.

Service members are trained in a wide spectrum of disciplines, Miller noted, including health care, transportation, logistics, public safety, engineering, construction and many others.

Navy Vice Adm. Kevin McCoy, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, told symposium participants about the command's focus on hiring wounded warriors. The command began its efforts two years ago, hiring 84 wounded warriors in fiscal 2009. Last year, the command hired 283 wounded warriors, and has hired 337 so far this year, he said.

McCoy has called hiring wounded warriors "a moral imperative." On July 22, he signed an agreement, along with Gen. Ann Dunwoody, commander of U.S. Army Materiel Command, to partner in hiring veterans with service-connected disability ratings of 30 percent or more.

"It is not about what we can do for them, but what they can contribute to making our missions successful for the warfighter," he said. "These wounded warriors will be able to translate their battlefield experience into our work, which is supporting the warfighter -- a job they know well."

Existing civilian hiring procedures do not connect wounded warriors to jobs, McCoy said, and it is not enough to pull from a list of qualified names. Rather, he said, hiring officials "have to be where warfighters are, rather than waiting for them to come to you."

By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service

Heroes Today founder / CEO elected to PA Peer Support Coalition Steering Committee

The Pennsylvania Peer Support Coalition is a statewide network of people who use their own mental health recovery experiences to support others. Coalition members are people who use peer support skills to inspire hope that recovery from mental illness is possible. READ MORE>>

Veterans face high unemployment after military service

Unemployment among recently returned veterans, already in double digits, is poised to get worse as more soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The jobless rate for veterans who served at any time since September 2001 — called Gulf War-era II veterans — was 13.3% in June, up from 12.1% the month before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In June 2010 it was 11.5%.

The difficulties veterans face in finding work was in evidence Sunday at the Hiring Our Heroes job fair at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, where more than 1,000 veterans converged to meet with employers and seek work. The veterans also got a peek at newlyweds Prince William and Catherine, who dropped by the fair as part of their tour of the Golden State.

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