Officials have linked 11 listeria cases since October 2021 to items from Yu Shang Food, which is recalling more than 72,000 pounds of products.A baby died and at least 10 other people in four states fell ill in an outbreak of listeria tied to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold by Yu Shang Food, federal health officials said on Friday, as the company recalled more than 72,000 pounds of items.The 11 people who fell ill were in California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey, and their illnesses were reported between October 2021 and July 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Nine people were hospitalized and one, an infant in California, died. The C.D.C. did not say when the baby died.The agency said that lab tests and interviews with the people indicated that products from Yu Shang Food had made them sick.The company, based in Spartanburg, S.C., is recalling products including pork belly, chicken feet, duck neck and beef shank, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said. These have been shipped to retail locations nationwide and were also available online.All of Yu Shang Food’s ready-to-eat products made before Oct. 28 are subject to the recall, the service said, publishing a list of products and their labels. Officials urged consumers who have already purchased the products to throw them out or return them.The packaging of a Yu Shang Food chicken product included in the recall.U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission/Food Safety and Inspection Service, via Associated PressIn interviews with local public health officials, the people who fell ill reported buying Yu Shang Food’s products from multiple stores, federal officials said. Two specifically mentioned the company’s ready-to-eat chicken products.Routine tests last month detected listeria in Yu Shang Food’s products, setting off an initial recall of about 4,600 pounds of products that was announced on Nov. 9. The recall was expanded on Thursday after additional testing found listeria contamination in the company’s products, officials said. An investigation is underway to determine if these listeria samples match the strain that caused the outbreak.Ling Li, a plant manager at Yu Shang Food, said in an emailed statement on Friday night that the company had taken immediate corrective action after inspectors found listeria, and that it would work to prevent future contamination.Listeria bacteria are naturally found in soil but can contaminate a range of foods like dairy products, fruits and deli meats. Most people who ingest it do not get sick, but pregnant women, older people, newborns and people with weakened immune systems can become seriously ill or die. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches and tiredness, the C.D.C. said.

The telehealth company, which sold teeth alignment devices to two million customers, was unprofitable and had been criticized by medical groups.SmileDirectClub, a telehealth company that sold teeth-straightening devices through the mail and faced criticism from medical groups, said on Friday that it had shut down.The company, founded in 2014, sold teeth aligners online and in its shops for $1,850. It marketed them as a faster, cheaper alternative to braces. SmileDirectClub’s initial public offering in 2019 valued it at $8.9 billion.SmileDirectClub served more than two million customers over nearly a decade. But the company was not profitable and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September with nearly $900 million of debt, court filings and financial statements show. And this year, it settled a lawsuit from the District of Columbia attorney general’s office that had accused the company of using confidentiality clauses to stifle consumer criticism.On Friday, SmileDirectClub said on its website that it was shutting down its global operations immediately. It apologized to customers for the inconvenience, and urged them to consult a doctor or dentist about future treatment.Outstanding orders have been canceled, the company said. Customers on a monthly installment payment plan are expected to continue making all of their payments. Those who have completed treatment will no longer qualify for the free touch-ups that the company had guaranteed.For customers seeking refunds, SmileDirectClub said that it would have more information “once the bankruptcy process determines next steps.”SmileDirectClub was founded in Nashville by childhood friends Alex Fenkell and Jordan Katzman. To order its products, customers made a mold of their teeth at home with a kit mailed by the company or had their teeth scanned at a “SmileShop” retail location. The scans were reviewed by dentists and orthodontists in the company’s network.SmileDirectClub’s services, which did not require in-person visits, had drawn criticism from dentist and orthodontist groups. The company has sued some of those critics and accused California’s dental board of stifling competition.After going public, the company’s shares traded at about $18 apiece but later became a penny stock. As the company failed to turn a profit, it also dealt with legal fights throughout its existence and dissatisfied customers who accused it of false advertising and of violating Food and Drug Administration regulations.SmileDirectClub offered refunds within 30 days after its aligners arrived, but anything after that was considered outside the company’s official refund policy and came with a nondisclosure provision, The New York Times reported in 2020. The agreement prohibited customers from telling others about the refund and required them to delete negative social media posts and reviews.The District of Columbia attorney general’s office sued the company in 2022, accusing it of blocking customers who had been harmed by its products from filing complaints with regulators or law enforcement. Under a settlement to resolve the litigation earlier this year, SmileDirectClub was required to release more than 17,000 customers from the agreements and pay $500,000 to the district. The company said in the settlement that it had not violated the law or engaged in unfair or deceptive practices.

In South Korea, Dr. Oh Eun-young, a celebrated psychiatrist, has helped destigmatize seeking therapy and blown up the traditionally private relationship with patients by putting it all on TV.SEOUL — Appointment day was finally here. The parents had waited for a month to see the renowned psychiatrist in South Korea about their child’s issues. They entered the room, the doctor arrived, and the door closed.Then the teleprompters turned on, the cameras started rolling, and the producer shouted, “Action!”So began the taping of “My Golden Kids,” one of the most popular reality shows in South Korea. Reigning over the episode was Dr. Oh Eun-young, a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry who has been called the “god of parenting.”Her mantra: “There is no problem child, only problems in parenting.”In a country where celebrity is often personified by young megastars churned out by an exacting entertainment industry, Dr. Oh, 57, occupies a singular cultural place. She draws millions of viewers on television and the internet, dispensing advice on parenting and marriage.Through a portfolio of shows — and books, videos and lectures — she has redefined therapy for Koreans, blown up the traditionally private relationship between doctor and patient and introduced the nation to accessible vocabulary on mental health issues.“She is the mother that you wish that you would have had in your childhood,” said Dr. Yesie Yoon, a Korean-American psychiatrist in New York who grew up watching Dr. Oh’s shows. “People really put their personal feelings toward popular figures in the media. And I feel like she’s serving a kind of good mother role to a lot of Korean people.”Her success is all the more notable in a country where taboos about seeking mental health treatment have deep roots and getting therapy has traditionally been a furtive enterprise.South Koreans attest to Dr. Oh’s role in destigmatizing psychiatric treatment, and the fact that some are willing to share their struggles on her shows is a watershed cultural moment. Practitioners in Dr. Oh’s field say it is becoming easier to persuade South Koreans to get therapy or take medication.Dr. Oh recording an episode of “My Golden Kids.” The show launched in 2020, when the pandemic, with its extended lockdowns, was forcing people to confront their loved ones’ problems full on.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesIn South Korea, about one in four adults has reported having a mental disorder in his or her lifetime, with only one in 55 receiving treatment in 2021, according to the National Mental Health Center. (One in five American adults received mental health treatment in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) South Korea has among the world’s highest suicide rates; it was the fifth leading cause of death in 2020, the government says. Among people in their 20s, it accounted for 54 percent of deaths.When Dr. Oh started her career as a medical doctor in 1996, many South Koreans associated mental illness with weakness, she said in an interview at a counseling center in the wealthy Seoul district of Gangnam. Some even believed that people could become mentally ill from studying psychiatry. Over the years, those attitudes have transformed.Tips for Parents to Help Their Struggling TeensCard 1 of 6Are you concerned for your teen?

After scandals in which doctors let unsupervised assistants operate on patients, the country is becoming one of the first to require cameras in operating rooms.

The decision comes as the country experiences rising caseloads again. The nine-hour test is seen as critical in determining students’ futures, and many have prepared for it since kindergarten.South Korea said on Thursday that it would hospitalize even asymptomatic high school seniors with Covid if they are taking the country’s high-stakes college entrance exam later this month, as the drive to vaccinate younger people lags and teenagers account for nearly a quarter of all Covid patients.The decision comes as South Korea experiences rising caseloads again. The annual nine-hour exam is seen as critical in determining students’ futures, and many of those taking the test have prepared for it since kindergarten.But because the test must be taken under supervision, the government has decided that those taking the Nov. 18 exam who test positive for the virus will have to do so from a hospital or quarantine facility, even if they show no symptoms.“We are preparing for the situation in which people may take the social-distancing rules less seriously as the country eases restrictions,” the Education Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, two weeks before half a million students will hunker down for the exams.As South Korea begins its phased easing of Covid restrictions, the risk of infections will “only increase,” particularly among younger people, who have lower vaccination rates, Son Young-rae, a Health Ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday.Only about 0.2 percent of people ages 17 and under, including those not yet eligible for shots, were fully vaccinated as of last week, according to data released by the Health Ministry on Oct. 27. South Korea began vaccinating those ages 16 to 17 on Oct. 18 and those ages 12 to 15 on Nov. 1.Since easing restrictions on Monday, the country has recorded more than 2,000 cases a day on average in the past week, an increase that officials are watching closely, Mr. Son said. More than 24 percent of Covid patients are teenagers, the interior and safety minister, Jeon Hae-cheol, said on Wednesday.The easing of restrictions, including the lifting of all limits on the operating hours of restaurants and bars, was a relief for many small-business owners, but it has also stirred fears about the possibility of outbreaks larger than the country has yet seen.“It feels like watching an approaching tsunami from a small boat,” said Dr. Joong-sik Eom, professor of infectious diseases who has treated Covid patients at Gachon University Gil Hospital in Incheon, in a Facebook post on Monday.As part of the phased reopening plan, the Education Ministry said that it would fully reopen elementary, middle and high schools nationwide on Nov. 22. But it said that it would make an exemption for high schools ahead of the college entrance exams, switching all instruction to remote learning starting on Nov. 11, a week before the exams, until the exams are over.For test takers with Covid, the ministry said that it had reserved 244 hospital beds. It said that it would also closely monitor cases and adherence to Covid rules at 320 cram schools nationwide.