Tag Archive for: fda

Some Popular Medical Devices Escape FDA Scrutiny

Countless patients around the world depend on advanced medical devices to improve their quality of life. As the $110 billion medical device industry cranks out thousands of products every year, eye-opening reports continue to surface detailing faulty devices, repeat surgeries and massive recalls. The FDA argues patients need access to life-saving devices quickly. However, a speedy approval process means some risky devices are cleared without clinical testing, and once on the market receive limited oversight. You should know the risks and realities of medical devices before one is put in your body.

Fatally flawed approvals. »

Listeria and Hummus

Once again we are sounding the alarms that more food-related listeria dangers are lurking out there. A very popular brand of hummus, Sabra, has had a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recall of about thirty thousand cases due to the high possibility it contained listeria monocytogenes, organisms that can result in severe and even fatal infections. This is especially the case for young children, individuals with weakened immunity, diabetics, and elderly or otherwise frail people. Healthier individuals may also fall prey to listeria infection, resulting in symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, stiffness, bad headache, and significant fever. This can cause more severe or even fatal problems in the more at risk populations and the infection can cause miscarriages or stillbirths in pregnant patients. Listeria infection can also cause meningitis, so it is nothing to mess around with.

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California Apple Plant and Listeria

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, as long as the apple is not one of the apples from a California plant recently connected to a deadly listeria outbreak, according to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). The subject plant apple processing plant in question is Bidart Brothers near Bakersfield, California. The main apples affected were those apples made into packaged caramel apples, products often purchased and frozen for later. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned consumers to avoid eating any prepackaged caramel apples, whether plain or with nuts, sprinkles, or chocolate, even if frozen.

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