Remember the beef recall, well, that was so yesterday as its reach and impact have been expanded. The recall affects more products shipped to more states. Go to the USDA site for a complete list of products from JBS Swift: We’re talking a lot of different cuts and pounds of meat! Here we are just  a few days from the national grilling holiday, and one common plate special is the simple, basic hamburger. Not so fast, as we say in the food world of recalls. Know where your product comes from. How do grilled veggies sound?

If it were possible to rank recalls, then this one might jump to the top of the list. How can a company, Plainview Milk Products Cooperative, voluntarily recall 2 years worth of milk products for a possible Salmonella outbreak? Easily if an inspection comes up with results that are less than stellar. Suspicion is enough in the world of inspections. Two years! Scary. Who cares about shelf life when something like this can happen? To calm you down, these are instant, nonfat dried milk, whey protein, and fruit stabilizers and gums that were sold to distributors and manufacturers but not directly to consumers. Yes, it is possible that some of it was put into other products that could have reached the consumer. Not a pretty picture!

Sure these are voluntary recalls, but that still leaves me without the warm, fuzzy feeling that I like to have when I think of a food product. No wonder consumer confidence in food safety is so low. We need to know.

Information is the first line of defense.