County health officials continue to investigate a Salmonella outbreak linked to a Georgia caterer who provided food for recent events. At least 70 people reported becoming ill after the events, with at least four admitted to hospitals.
The Plain Nuts Catering & Deli of Covington, GA, closed voluntarily,…
This century’s most deadly outbreak of foodborne illness came out of the state of Georgia while secretary of agriculture nominee Sonny Perdue was governor, and there was not much he could do about it.
After King Nut peanut…
A Bi-Lo grocery store in Glennville, GA, is recalling freshcut cantaloupe three days after state officials notified the chain that a random sample collected at the store tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes. 
This is a label for one of several freshcut cantaloupe products recalled in Glennville, GA, because of potential Listeria…
State legislatures remain in session from Alabama to Wyoming, with food safety mostly getting only a light touch from lawmakers who seem largely focused on budgets and education in this non-election year. In Alabama, where a new cottage food bill took effect last June 1, Extension services are getting more money for training people…
The Stone Mountain Pecan Company in Monroe, GA, is recalling 540 packages of its “Pecanettes” sold in 8-ounce packages because the product has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. 
The products were distributed only in Georgia and directly to consumers at the retail level from the Stone Mountain Pecan Company. Based upon random sampling…
Abe’s Finest Meats of Palatka, FL, is recalling approximately 80,050 pounds of hickory-smoked sliced bacon products due to misbranding, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Monday. The recalled 10-lb. bulk frozen packages of “CEDAR CREEK HICKORY SMOKED SLICED BACON” were produced on various dates between July 23 and Dec. 11,…
During the past week, it was my good fortune to return to South Georgia, where farmers are still waiting for their fields to warm enough to plant the 2014 peanut crop. The Blakely, GA, plant – once a major purchaser of Georgia peanuts – stands empty. It’s one of the few inactive sites in the…
An E. coli outbreak linked to a barbecue restaurant in Northeast Georgia sickened as many as 18 people, health officials announced Friday. This case count includes 7 more illnesses than the 11 reported on May 21. BBQ Shack restaurant in Toccoa, GA is the suspected source of the E. coli bacteria, which was confirmed as…
At least seven people in Stephens County, Ga., have fallen ill with E. coli in the last several weeks, leading health officials in the area to begin investigating the source of the outbreak, local radio station WNEG reports. Two of the patients were hospitalized and are now recovering. Most of the seven sickened have…
Despite a tough new food safety law and more than a half million spent annually on inspections and lab work, Georgia is not achieving the food safety improvement at the state’s 740 food processing plants that its lawmakers seek. Perhaps, some say, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black did not get the memo about how serious the…
In 1864, when Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman conducted his famous March to the Sea, splitting George apart like a ripe peach, his troops lived totally off the bounty of the land.
Sherman’s Union army, marching without supplies, did not want for anything, while up north the Army of Virginia was experiencing disease and starvation …
