FOOD INDUSTRY
Salads, slaws and dips recalled
Garden-Fresh Foods of Milwaukee, Wis., is expanding its recall of ready-to-eat salads, slaws and dips sold under various brand names because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
The products include the Market Pantry and Archer Farmers brands sold at Target stores. Other brands in the recall are D’Amico and Sons, Roundy’s, Grandpa’s, Maggie’s, Finest Traditions, Chef’s Kitchen, Garden Fresh, Spartan, Weis and Portillo.
The products were sold in 6- to 18-ounce containers and were distributed to retail stores and food service operations in 14 states, including Ohio.
So far, there have been no reported illnesses.
Healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea from a Listeria infection, but it can cause miscarriage or stillbirth in pregnant women.
Consumers who have purchased any of the suspect products are urged to return them for a refund. For more information, call 800-645-3367 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Details are also online at www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm369696.htm with a full list of the recalled products.
LABOR
Ohio nurses allege lockout
The union representing nurses at Northside Medical Center in Youngstown alleged some workers were not allowed to begin their shifts at 7 a.m. Wednesday, a day after an unfair labor practice strike took place.
The Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association said its members have been without a contract for 15 months. Northside is owned by the for-profit hospital operator Community Health Systems of Tennessee, which is in talks to acquire Akron General Health System in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic.
The union, which represents about 400 registered nurses at Northside, said the Wednesday lockout “targeted nurses who were scheduled to work on Tuesday.”
In a prepared statement, Northside officials said “nurses who did not report to duty during the strike period will be returning at the conclusion of the 72-hour engagement of temporary replacement nurses filling their vacated positions.”
“Northside Medical Center is continuing operations without interruptions,” a hospital spokeswoman said in an email.
The union said the hospital wants to change operations by sending nurses home “when patient admissions fluctuate.”
The hospital maintains that “flex staffing” is a standard industry practice “to effectively manage operations through appropriate staff scheduling.”
TELEVISION
Cable investor wants merger
Billionaire John Malone, the cable television industry pioneer and largest investor in Charter Communications Inc., said he is still aiming to convince Time Warner Cable Inc. that teaming up is in both companies’ best interests.
Consolidation makes sense because cable operators need to stay competitive with satellite TV companies, Malone said in an interview at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York. So far, efforts to persuade Time Warner Cable to join forces with Charter have proved fruitless. Time Warner Cable has operations based in Akron.
Malone’s dealings with Time Warner Cable are being handled by his holding company Liberty Media Corp., run by Chief Executive Officer Greg Maffei. The billionaire is letting Maffei manage any potential deal process, which Malone doesn’t expect to become hostile, he said.
TECHNOLOGY
Glitch puts cars on runway
A glitch in the Apple Maps app on newer iPhones and iPads guides people up to a runway at a major Alaska airport instead of sending them on the proper route to the terminal, an airport official said.
The map actually stops at the tarmac, but twice this month, wayward drivers have continued across an active runway.
RETAIL
Walmart reduces orders
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is cutting orders it places with suppliers this quarter and next to address rising inventory the company flagged in last month’s earnings report.
Last week, an ordering manager at the company’s Arkansas headquarters described the pullback in an email to a supplier, who said others got similar messages. “We are looking at reducing inventory for Q3 and Q4,” said the Sept. 17 email, which was seen by Bloomberg News. Inventory growth at Walmart outstripped sales gains in the second quarter at a faster rate than at the retailer’s biggest rivals.
Compiled from staff and wire reports