unsanitary conditions 7 articles

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has entered a permanent injunction against Kwong Tung Foods Inc., doing business as Canton Foods, and its owner Kwong “Victor” C. Wang and vice president Juney H. Wang, for significant and ongoing violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act. The company, based in Minneapolis, Minn., sells rice and wheat noodles, and mung bean and soy bean sprouts. The DOJ alleges that Kwong Tung Foods Inc. has an extensive history of operating under unsanitary conditions in violation of current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations and the FD&C Act. The Food and Drug ... Read More

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shut down production at a Delaware cheese factory linked to a deadly listeria outbreak after an inspection revealed numerous unsanitary conditions that the agency said created a “reasonable probability” that cheese produced there could cause “serious adverse health consequences or death to humans.” Roos Foods Inc., recalled 16 varieties of Hispanic-style cheeses last month after reports of one death in California and seven illnesses in Maryland from listeria infections. Those sickened included mothers and newborn babies. The recall involved all of Roos Foods’ Mexicana, Amigo, Santa Rosa De Lima and Anita brands, which ... Read More

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is coming down hard on compounding pharmacies, issuing warning letters for unsanitary conditions and producing drugs without individual prescriptions. The action comes four months after congress passed the Drug Quality and Security Act, which puts compounding pharmacies that outsource their products under FDA oversight instead of being governed by state pharmacy boards like traditional pharmacies. Nora Apothecary and Alternative Therapies, Pallimed Solutions Inc., and Wedgwood Village Pharmacy received warning letters outlining sterility issues with facility procedures from visible sterile drug contaminants to inadequate clean rooms and monitoring programs. The FDA’s oversight into compounding pharmacies ... Read More

Unsanitary conditions and an illness-causing bacteria were found in an Augusta, Ga., Kellogg’s plant where Keebler and other cookies are made, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Listeria monocytogenes was discovered at the plant in and around the production-line conveyor belts, pooling water was seen dripping into an open mixer bowl, and flies were spotted buzzing near food mixers. Listeria is a food borne pathogen that is responsible for about 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths in the United States each year. It is considered more deadly than other food borne pathogens, such as Salmonella and botulism. The bacteria ... Read More

Seven-year-old Christopher Meunier spent nearly a week in the hospital late last year after eating some peanut butter crackers contaminated with salmonella. The boy’s parents, Gabrielle and Daryl Meunier of Burlington, Vermont, are now suing the Peanut Corporation of America for an undisclosed amount of money. The particular strain of salmonella that sickened the boy is the same strain as the salmonella tied to Peanut Corporation’s manufacturing facility in Blakely, Georgia. Investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified the strain as Salmonella Typhimurium. The salmonella found in the peanut butter products was one of four different strains detected ... Read More

Officials from the Food and Drug Administration discovered that the Peanut Corporation of America found salmonella bacteria while conducting internal tests several times in 2007 and 2008 but knowingly sold its products anyway. The contaminated peanut butter products were shipped 12 times in those two years, according to company documents examined by the FDA. According to records kept by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 500 people in 43 states and Canada have become sick after eating products containing the Peanut Corporation of America’s contaminated peanut butter. The FDA blames the salmonella outbreak on eight deaths ... Read More

Shortly after Patricia Howard took a job a contract job with USA Environmental, something just didn’t seem to smell right. The ammunition handler was sent to Iraq with the company in January 2004 to dispose of thousands of tons of explosives. Howard knew the work would be hazardous. She would be working in warehouses where hundreds of tons of ammunition are stored. But what she began to fear most was not the dangerous firepower surrounding her, but the other thing the warehouses contained: pigeon droppings. And not just a white dusting here and there, but thousands of tons of aviary ... Read More