Kitchen

[tiny 2]

@Nightowlz, Thank you for the notification. There seems to be many recalls lately. I just purchased a couple of bags of that flour.

[BeccaLou]

Are we ever going to peace to safe with food for pitty sake"s  !!

[Luvtuna]

Where is the lot number on the bag? I have the use by date of Dec.(can't make out the day because I taped it closed). I have used it twice and no problems. I thought you could trust that brand. Thanks for the heads up.

[Mindy D]

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@Sooner wrote:

I am wondering if I am being duped buying KAF.  I thought they maybe had more of their own sources and milling facilities.  

Now I'm thinking they just have the same flour as Gold Medal etc only they rebrand theirs OR it is simply milled to a different protein content listing, but is still basically the same wheat going through the same mill.

They may just mix the wheat differently (different loads of wheat from different farms and different conditions may have different protein content).  I don't know that I will spend more for their flour in the future. 

Since my dad farmed, I DO know that there are different grades of all farm products.  The same canning plants can many brands of green beans for instance, and the same beans but the lower quality may go for one band.  Maybe more miscut beans, maybe more runs with flaws of some kind.  But the beans are beans.

So I guess KAF just has the same old flour as any brand, but with a different specification for the mill run.

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Ecoli in flour usually stems from field contamination, usually from cattle dung that gets into water near the fields of the wheat plants. Raw wheat is ground down into flour. There is no cooking to kill bacteria in flour. KAF and other flour producers have multiple sources for their wheat and the only tactic the company can make is to check for ecoli in samples of their products. 

ALDIS ALSO HAS A FLOUR RECALL, see below for CDC information on this recall

https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2019/flour-05-19/index.html

[Sooner]

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@Mindy D wrote:

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@Sooner wrote:

I am wondering if I am being duped buying KAF.  I thought they maybe had more of their own sources and milling facilities.  

Now I'm thinking they just have the same flour as Gold Medal etc only they rebrand theirs OR it is simply milled to a different protein content listing, but is still basically the same wheat going through the same mill.

They may just mix the wheat differently (different loads of wheat from different farms and different conditions may have different protein content).  I don't know that I will spend more for their flour in the future. 

Since my dad farmed, I DO know that there are different grades of all farm products.  The same canning plants can many brands of green beans for instance, and the same beans but the lower quality may go for one band.  Maybe more miscut beans, maybe more runs with flaws of some kind.  But the beans are beans.

So I guess KAF just has the same old flour as any brand, but with a different specification for the mill run.

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Ecoli in flour usually stems from field contamination, usually from cattle dung that gets into water near the fields of the wheat plants. Raw wheat is ground down into flour. There is no cooking to kill bacteria in flour. KAF and other flour producers have multiple sources for their wheat and the only tactic the company can make is to check for ecoli in samples of their products. 

ALDIS ALSO HAS A FLOUR RECALL, see below for CDC information on this recall

https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2019/flour-05-19/index.html

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That's what surprises me.  I would have hoped that KAF had a closer relationship with its suppliers and better tabs on the producer network they use.

A miller would know (or should know) where their wheat is grown, how it is produced  and the conditions if they are using smaller sourced, more locally sourced grain--which I would have hoped KAF is doing.

It's like buying tube packed ground beef as opposed to beef you buy that a local butcher cuts and grinds from primal cuts.  There is a world of difference there, and for what we pay for KAF flour, they should have better feel for where and how that wheat is grown.  That's not rocket science, that's making some effort of secure a better grain in the first place. 

[Kachina624]

People know they can become ill from eating uncooked eggs but they don't realize that flour is the most likely to be contaminated ingredient in the pantry.  That's why I don't eat cookie dough or other unbaked batters.  As it turned out, cookie dough, used as an ingredient and made by a supplier, was the reason for the huge recall of Blue Bell Ice Cream several years ago.  It almost put the company out of business.

[gardenman]

Bacteria are resourceful little things. You could be the most conscientious farmer in the world, using the best and safest farming practices, but if a bird lands on a cow patty then flies a few miles to your field and lands on your wheat stalks just as you're harvesting it, transferring bacteria to your wheat, there's nothing you can do. Unless you want all of your food grown in sterile labs, contamination will occur. That's why they test for it by culturing random samples. You can't make overly broad statements about a supplier or grower as much of what happens is determined by fate/God.

[PINKdogWOOD]

@Nightowlz   I actually received a phone call yesterday from the Giant Eagle we shop at about this recall.  The robo guy KNEW we bought some and said so to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It was kind of creepy Robo Bob knew this.

In any event, I knew we had a 5lb bag that we had not opened yet. I took out to the dumpster immediately.

Thank you Robo Bob.

[ScarletDove]

Glad I do not use KA AP flour, only use KA unbleached bread flour and KA specialty flours from their website.   

[Barbarainnc]

Just tried to buy KAF at Walmart. It was All purpose with a best by date of Jan 20th, 2020. When it was scanned, out came a receipt stating this item couldn't be sold due to a recall, and to take the item. The head guy came and they were going to remove the bags from the shelf. Oh well, no baking for a while.