Seafood producer shut for HACCP violations
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it found serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations.
Seafood HACCP regulations are intended to ensure the safety of fish and fishery products, and prescribe requirements that must be followed by seafood processors, said the agency.
Consent decree against BEK Catering
The consent decree of permanent injunction was entered against BEK Catering doing business as Floppers Foods of Daphne, Alabama, and co-owners, Billy B. Stembridge and Kyle D. Huxen.
It prohibits BEK Catering from receiving, processing, manufacturing, preparing, packing, holding or distributing food until it comes into compliance with FDA requirements.
As part of the settlement, the defendants said they are no longer process, pack, or hold fish products from any location except for activities incidental to product transport and delivery.
The company must destroy, under FDA supervision, all seafood products they have.
No illnesses were reported in connection with the company.
BEK Catering prepares, processes, packs, holds, and distributes ready-to-eat seafood products, namely seafood soups sold under the names Shrimp Locksley and Mama’s Gumbo.
“Adulterated and misbranded seafood products can create serious health risks for consumers,” said Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
FDA past inspections
The FDA conducted inspections between September 2011 and April 2015 at various manufacturing facilities and has found similar insanitary conditions and repeated violations during each one.
During a 2015 inspection, FDA found the defendants failed to have adequate control over the risk of Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium perfringens growth and toxin formation or adequate control over the risk of Listeria monocytogenes growth, and to control hazards posed by food allergens and additives.
Melinda Plaisier, the FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, said when a company fails to provide an adequate plan for preventing food safety hazards in their facility, they are putting the public at risk.
“It is the job of the FDA to oversee that seafood businesses have adequate controls in place for the products they produce. When adequate preventive controls are not in place, we must take action to prevent potentially harmful food from entering the food supply.”
