WILBRAHAM — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it found listeria and inadequate sanitation precautions when it inspected the Friendly’s ice cream plant in Wilbraham this summer.
The food safety agency told Friendly’s plant owner Dean Foods it is the company’s responsibility to correct the violations and that it intends to follow up. The FDA sent a warning letter to the plant manager and corporate executives with owner Dean Foods last month. The document became public this week on the FDA’s website.
Dean Foods didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
The FDA said Friendly’s reported the food products manufactured during the inspections were discarded. The company submitted a corrective plan, the FDA said.
The FDA inspected the plant from July 29 through Aug. 20. Inspectors used swabs to check for contamination. Their genetic analysis showed the same strain of listeria found in an FDA inspection in 2017.
Listeria infection, according to the Mayo Clinic, is a food-borne bacterial illness that can be serious for pregnant women and people with impaired immune systems.
Among the problems outlined by FDA:
- Dean Foods’s did not take reasonable measures and precautions to ensure all persons working in direct contact with food, food-contact surfaces and food-packaging materials conformed to hygienic practices while on duty.
- An employee in charge of mixing did not wash and sanitize his hands and did not wash, sanitize or change his gloves after touching scoop handles, opening boxes and transferring products.
- A quality assurance employee was observed using his bare hands to push partially overturned sundae cups through a machine. Afterward the same employee was observed licking ice cream off his bare hands.
- Cake molds had food debris (white and chocolate ice cream) from previous use when exiting the dishwasher. Employees continued to use these molds without sending the molds back through the dishwasher.
- An employee used a metal ruler to push products into a topping hopper and then placed the ruler on an unclean work cart. This ruler was used throughout production operations and was not observed being cleaned and sanitized.
- Employees used high-pressure hoses to clean up, causing overspray to fall on areas that should remain sanitary.
- Green pails designated for finished products and ingredients were used to hold overflow ice cream during production and were placed directly below pipes from which condensation dripped. These pails were also observed being emptied into a discarded product vat, during which the rim and exterior of the pails came into contact with the discarded food and the food vat and then returned to the production line without any cleaning or sanitizing.
- Employees were observed moving orange pails to multiple surfaces within the production environment without cleaning or sanitizing the pails between uses. These surfaces included floors, ready-to-eat product work counters and the assembly conveyor.
- Employees were observed using yellow brushes designated for “exterior surfaces,” such as wheels and floors, to scrub areas around food contact surfaces such as conveyor belts, scales and worktables.
- Workers used and reused cloths without adequately cleaning and sanitizing the cloths. Inspectors observed cloths being used in various activities during production, including wiping down condensate, conveyors, scales and cake decorating stands; covering food; and wiping off excess food from the sides of cake molds. “For example, we observed an employee using cloths to wipe condensate on pipes and then using the same cloth to touch cakes while decorating,” the inspectors wrote.
- Disassembled parts and pipes from a filler were stored inside the hand washing sink. During sanitation, guards disassembled from a filler were stored on wet production floors next to a floor drain with high foot traffic on line.
- Hoses used for sanitizer and water were not clearly marked and were observed being placed directly on wet floors, over flavor vats, and on top of multiple product contact work surfaces.
The FDA said Dean Foods’s indicated it took steps to correct the problems, including performing intensified cleaning and sanitizing of the production area and equipment and offering refresher training for employees.
Parent company Dean Foods is operating under federal bankruptcy protection as it sells itself to to the cooperative Dairy Farmers of America.
Dean Foods bought the Friendly’s ice cream manufacturing and retail distribution business in 2016 for $155 million. The company, America’s largest provider of fluid milk for the table, has been victimized in recent years by declining demand for milk.
Friendly’s restaurant operations are owned by a separate company.
Brothers S. Prestley and Curtis Blake founded Friendly’s in 1935 with a single storefront in Springfield’s Pine Point neighborhood. Curtis Blake died in June at his Florida home at 102. Pres Blake turned 105 last month.
"cream" - Google News
December 14, 2019 at 06:02AM
https://ift.tt/2slzlWh
FDA warns of listeria, inadequate sanitation at Friendly’s ice cream plant in Wilbraham - MassLive.com
"cream" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2MOPaLD
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment