Hepatitis Threat Forces Another Frozen Fruit Recall

As a result, the Scenic Fruit Company of Gresham, Ore., has recalled three different lots of its Woodstock Frozen Organic Pomegranate Kernels, which were shipped from February through May to United Natural Foods Inc. distribution centers in 12 states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.

The F.D.A. said the centers might have distributed the pomegranate seeds to grocery stores in other states.

The pomegranate seeds in the Scenic Fruit product came from the same shipment of pomegranate seeds from Turkey that were used in a frozen berry mixture made by Townsend Farms of Fairview, Ore. Townsend recalled packages of its Organic Antioxidant Blend sold in Costco stores on the West Coast and in Harris Teeter grocery stores, primarily located in the southeast.

The Centers for Disease Control has identified 127 people who became ill with the virus caused by Hepatitis A after eating the Townsend Farms berries, although none so far from the Harris Teeter stores.

In a statement, the agency said it would continue “working with the firms who have distributed pomegranate seeds from this shipment from Turkey to help ensure that all recipients of these seeds have been notified.”

That berry contamination case cropped up shortly after Shuanghui International, a large Chinese meat processor, announced plans to buy Smithfield Foods, one of the biggest pork producers in the country, raising public awareness of how much food is imported to the United States.

The particular strain of Hepatitis A found in clinical specimens taken from 56 of the people who were sickened belongs to a genotype rarely seen in the United States but that is circulating in North Africa and the Middle East.

Recall of Nearly 470,000 Jeeps Announced by Chrysler

Chrysler is recalling about 469,000 Jeeps worldwide, including about 295,000 in the United States, because the transmission could shift by itself from park into neutral, according to a report posted on the Web site of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The affected models are the Jeep Commanders for the 2006 to 2010 model years and Grand Cherokees from the 2005 to 2010 model years.

There have been 26 accidents and two injuries apparently related to the defect, a Chrysler spokesman, Eric Mayne, wrote in an e-mail. Mr. Mayne said he was not aware of the severity of the injuries but said that they were not fatal.

Chrysler told the safety agency that a software problem could instruct the transmission to shift into neutral when the vehicle is being started.

The automaker first learned of the issue almost 16 months ago when the owner of a Grand Cherokee with the remote-start feature complained that the vehicle shifted into neutral.

Chrysler said that last December it finished developing new software that it hoped would correct the problem. In March, it completed testing the fix but it wasn’t until this month that the automaker concluded a recall was necessary.

Mr. Mayne said he could not immediately explain why the recall did not occur until this month.

Chrysler described the recall as voluntary, but once a manufacturer is aware of a safety problem it must tell the safety agency of its plan for the recall within five business days or face a civil fine.

Wheels: Toyota to Pay Record $17.35 Million Fine for Delaying Recall

Kimimasa Mayama/European Pressphoto Agency For the fourth time in two years, Toyota has agreed to pay fines related to allegations of delaying safety recalls.

For the fourth time, Toyota has agreed to pay a fine to settle allegations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the automaker delayed a safety recall.

In a news release Tuesday morning, the safety agency said Toyota would pay $17.35 million, the maximum allowed by law.

Toyota did not admit any wrongdoing and said it was paying the fine to avoid a continued dispute with the safety agency. The automaker said the same thing when agreeing to pay the three previous fines, which totaled $48.8 million.

The recall the safety agency said was delayed occurred last June and covered 154,036 sport utility vehicles — the 2010 Lexus RX 350 and RX 450h — to fix a problem that might allow the floor mat to become snagged on the gas pedal.

The safety agency contends that those vehicles should have been included in an October 2009 recall of 3.8 million vehicles for the same issue.

But the agency says it was not until early this year — after it contacted Toyota about consumer complaints of floor-mat problems on the two 2010 Lexus models — that the automaker agreed the recall should be expanded.

In a statement, Toyota said it was “dedicated to the safety of our customers and we continue to strengthen our data collection and evaluation process to ensure we are prepared to take swift action to meet customers’ needs.”

The safety agency described the $17.35 million fine as a record. That is the maximum currently allowed by law; the amount is periodically increased to reflect inflation.

Some consumer safety advocates, like Clarence M. Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, have long argued that such amounts are no more than a “rounding error” for automakers and that to make companies take their responsibility more seriously, auto executives should face criminal penalties.

The previous fines occurred in April 2010 and twice in December 2010.

Toyota routinely describes its recalls as “voluntary,” but under federal regulations once a manufacturer is aware of a safety problem it has five business days to inform the agency of its plan for a recall.