The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent a warning letter to Gordon Food Co. of Memphis Tenn. telling the company that it must take action to address insanitary conditions at its storage facility that were discovered during inspections in February and March.
Gordon is a distributor of domestic and international foods including fish, cheese, pastries, chocolates and beverages, according to its website. During inspections in late February and early March, FDA inspectors found insanitary conditions, or conditions so unclean that they are likely to cause disease.
Inspectors noted a failure to keep pests out of the food storage areas.
“Three dead rodents were observed on glue traps along the wall, as well as, beside and behind pallets of chocolate products being stored in what you refer to as the “chocolate room.” Rodent excreta pellets were observed along all walls in the chocolate room, as well as on pallets used to store food products in this room. Approximately eight of twenty-one pallets holding chocolate and pasta products stored in the chocolate room contained what appeared to be rodent gnawed holes penetrating through to food products. Sample 583011, containing cuttings for these rodent gnawed holes, was collected by our investigators and analysis of this sample by the FDA Southeast Regional Laboratory confirmed rodent incisor marks on the subsamples of product containers.”
Inspectors also noted that condensation from pipes was “dripping directly onto food products stored in the freezer.” And left over product and debris were left in the warehouse to attract or provide harbor for pests.
The company has 15 days to respond with a plan for corrective action that will be taken and documentation of action that has already been taken.
