A lack of effective pest control and the resulting pest contamination found during an FDA inspection caused the ambient, refrigerated and frozen food warehouse to receive 483 citations, and the firm’s failure to provide a written response to FDA describing corrective actions caused the further issuance of a Warning Letter.
Violative observations from the inspection included ineffective measures to exclude pests, as evidenced by abundant sightings throughout the warehouse of
- Rodent excreta pellets and urine stains in numerous places on pallets of food, packaging materials, storage areas, support beams, floors, etc.; dead, decomposed rodents in traps; rodent paw and tail prints; and missing rodent stations.
- Bird excreta on pallets and nesting material.
- Live insects.
The insanitary conditions observed throughout the facility were likely contributors to both pest entry and survival, as observations included exposed insulation, holes in walls, gaps at the bottom of walls, floor cracks, doors left open for extended time periods, spilled powders, and foods stored close to where rodent excreta was observed, as well as overgrown weeds and vegetation observed near outside walls which could allow for pest harborage. And once inside, the pests were found to have contaminated food as demonstrated by gnaw holes in bags of dry foods and rodent excreta pellets in food samples.
Pests are a significant challenge in food facilities with sightings and the lack of effective control consistently being top violations cited by FDA. It is because of pests’ ability to contaminate food and spread disease that their control is so critical – and effective control is a key focus of FDA inspections.
