Posted: November 30th, 2010 - 8:56pm
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS -- A Fairbanks fish processor at odds with the state Department of Environmental Conservation said he will issue a recall for a batch of smoked salmon the state says tested positive for bacteria even though three samples of the same fish it sent to be tested by independent laboratories in the Lower 48 came back negative.
“We’re required by law to issue a recall,” said Virgil Umphenour, owner of Interior Alaska Fish Processors Inc. on Davis Road.
The fish in question is Santa’s Smokehouse brand “Cajun-Style Smoked Keta Salmon.” The fish was sold in half-pound packages labeled “Batch 245” at the company’s retail store on Davis Road between Aug. 27 and Nov. 6.
A sample taken by the Department of Environmental Conservation in August tested positive for listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause serious infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. It also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women, according to DEC. The DEC issued a news release announcing the positive test on Nov. 9.
Umphenour requested the state re-test the fish, but the DEC refused, he said. In response, Umphenour sent samples from the same batch of fish to laboratories in California, Florida and Washington
“They all came up negative for listeria,” Umphenour said.