“The stars are in our corners” and “Food service beyond expectation since 1960,” are the slogans of catering firm, Triple A Services Inc.

If listeria is a star and beyond expectation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that a Chicago-area company has agreed to stop making its ready-to-eat sandwiches and produce after FDA investigators repeatedly found unsanitary conditions and bacterial contamination in the facility.

The company, Triple A Services Inc., and its owners and operators, Thomas J. Whennen, Scott C. Whennen and David A. Frisco, have agreed to stop producing and distributing the sandwiches and produce as part of a consent decree filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois.

The terms of the decree would also require Triple A to hire a sanitation expert to help establish an effective sanitation program, to comply with FDA regulations and to eliminate Listeria contamination from company facilities.

The government's complaint, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on December 22, 2011, describes Triple A's history of operating under unsanitary conditions and Listeria monocytogenes contamination in the processing facility.

It also outlines Triple A's failure to comply with Current Good Manufacturing Practice and seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point regulations.

"FDA took these aggressive actions because Triple A Services continued to violate current good manufacturing practice regulations and allow for conditions that could affect the health of consumers," said Dara Corrigan, the FDA's associate commissioner for regulatory affairs.

No illnesses have been reported to date from Triple A Services' products.

A diner threatened to return to an English pub armed with a knife after being served a "below par" beef and onion sandwich, a court has heard.

Clive Davies, 54, left the White Horse pub in Cambridge and showed employees at a nearby grocery store a seven-inch blade he said he planned to use on the staff who had served him the unsatisfactory sandwich, the Cambridge News reported today.

Employees at the store called police and Davies, who has a previous conviction for manslaughter, was apprehended in another local pub, the Lion and Lamb.

He pleaded guilty to threatening and abusive language, possessing a bladed article in a public place, and possession of cannabis.

That salmonella-in-sprouts at Jimmy John’s has spread to 15 states.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21, 2010, the same Salmonella serotype I 4,[5],12:i:- had sickened 89 individuals from 15 states, with 50 of those from Illinois.

Case-patients range in age from 1 to 75 years, with a median age of 28. Sixty-eight percent of patients are female. Among persons with available information, 23% reported being hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

Preliminary results of this investigation indicate a link to eating alfalfa sprouts at a national sandwich chain.

To reduce the risk of illness:

• Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind (including alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean sprouts).
• Cook sprouts thoroughly to reduce the risk of illness. Cooking kills the harmful bacteria.
• Request that raw sprouts not be added to your food. If you purchase a sandwich or salad at a restaurant or delicatessen, check to make sure that raw sprouts have not been added.

At one local eatery, we’re known as the no-sprouts customers.

That national sandwich chain would be Jimmy John’s. Although the company pulled sprouts two days ago from Illinois restaurants, they need to pull all raw sprouts nationally, figure out where the sprouts came from to limit exposure to others, and then seriously evaluate whether they should even be offering raw sprouts.

And when Jimmy John’s owner Jimmy John Liautaud wrote franchisees in a letter Tuesday saying that about 88 people were sickened in 15 states and that of 40 interviewed, 28 ate at Jimmy John's and 25 had sprouts, he obviously knew what CDC is now reporting today. So why would you limit the yanking of sprouts to just Illinois? Why did it take CDC at least an additional two days to report what Illinois folks have been reporting for days?

This is going to be expensive.

A table of raw sprout-related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/sprout-associated-outbreaks-north-america-1990-2009.

Almost one in three pre-packed sandwiches are stored or displayed at the wrong temperature, increasing the risk of food poisoning, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has warned.

The authority has just published a study into the microbiological safety of pre-packed sandwiches. While the findings show that 99% of sandwiches were satisfactory when tested for the foodborne bacteria, Listeria, there was concern over the storage of these food items.

Altogether, 29% of pre-packed sandwiches were being stored or displayed at temperatures higher than five degrees Celsius. Pre-packed sandwiches should be stored at five degrees Celsius or cooler, as this stops or slows down the growth of bacteria.

Meanwhile the study found that four of the five sandwiches, which were classified as unsatisfactory or unacceptable/potentially hazardous, were stored above eight degrees Celsius, with one sandwich displayed unrefrigerated at almost 18 degrees Celsius.

The study involved the testing of 948 pre-packaged sandwiches from retailers and caterers across the country. Sandwiches made to order, unwrapped sandwiches and sandwiches which receive heat-treatment, e.g. toasted sandwiches and paninis. were excluded from study.