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Produce Co, Dairy Receive FDA Warnings

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

Mid South Produce Distributors in Nashville has taken "prompt action" to control the pest problems it was experiencing at its food processing and storage facility earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an April 13 "Warning Letter."

Mid South, a whole fruit and vegetable distributor, has been making progress in correcting problems found by the FDA during a February inspection.

That inspection found that the condition of food in the storage area was adulterated because it had been "prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth."

FDA found "Hundreds of rodent pellets, gnawed produce, rodent gnawed holes, and millipedes were found in the dry storage room, small equipment storage room, lettuce cooler, and on the loading dock," as well as "Openings in roof and broken windows provided direct access to the dry storage areas and stored food" during the February inspection.

In the letter, FDA acknowledged that since the inspection Mid South has completed building renovations, cleaning, and voluntarily carried out the destruction of adulterated food.  FDA has asked Mid South to provide information on how it will prevent such violations from happening again.

H. Tyler Thornburg, FDA's New Orleans district director, also told Mid South that other federal agencies "may take this warning letter into account when considering the award of contracts."

Procurement contacts have been awarded to Mid South in the past, according to federal records.

The Wright Place, LLC, a Maine dairy operation, received an April 2 Warning Letter about the misuse of the animal drug neomycin.   In the letter, John R. Marzilli, FDA's New England district director, said neomycin was found in the kidney of a bob veal calf at levels higher than allowed by law.

FDA's investigation and tests by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) found the presence of 10.99 parts per million (ppm) of neomycin residue in the kidney of a veal bob calf sold for slaughter for human consumption by the Maine diary.

Neomycin in kidney tissue is not allowed to exceed 7.2 ppm.

FDA said the dairy is not following the label directions for using neomycin sulfate.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).