Food processing and storage firm DW Trading has received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dated September 30, documenting “serious violations of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulation for foods.”
The letter said the FDA considered products at the company’s facility to be adulterated as they were “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health.”
During its five-day inspection, the Indiana Department of Health placed an embargo on two lots of contaminated flour processed by DW Trading, the FDA said. The agency added that immediately following its inspection, the company voluntarily destroyed flour and noodles that were found to be contaminated.
The Indianapolis facility is DW Trading’s only processing and storage facility.
In its warning letter, the FDA outlined some of the safety violations it found at the plant, including flour contaminated with rodent droppings, bird droppings, feathers, and live and dead insects.
“Rodent gnaw marks were found on several bags of potato starch. Investigators observed cooler condensate dripping on exposed products including ready-to-eat cabbage. A utensil used to scoop ice onto ready-to-eat vegetables was found lying on a surface contaminated with oil and a black mold-like substance,” the letter said.
The agency also found unsanitary conditions at the facility due to a failure to maintain buildings, “a variety of living and dead animals and insects”, poor maintenance of utensils and equipment used to handle food, and inadequate lighting, making it difficult to properly clean the plant.
Investigators also found inadequate maintenance of plumbing that could cause contamination.
“Specifically, a urinal in the bathroom on the lower level of the warehouse was overflowing. Persons using the bathroom were forced to track through the standing drainage when entering or leaving,” the FDA said.
During the inspection DW Trading said it planned to correct these conditions.