Dive Brief:
- The FDA has sent a warning letter to The Dutch Kettle, a Hamptonville, NC-based acidified foods maker, including pickled products and jams and jellies, for failure to file scheduled processes for certain products, which are required by acidified food regulations.
- It also expressed in the warning letter concerns about misbranding and the ability of The Dutch Kettle's measuring instruments to accurately "control or prevent the growth of undesirable microorganisms."
- The agency sent a separate warning letter to Home Style Foods, Inc., a Hamtramck, MI-based manufacturer of RTE seafood and deli salad, due to two strains of listeria found in samples taken from the company's production room. The letter cites management's improper maintenance of the company's buildings, fixtures, and other physical facilities.
Dive Insight:
Manufacturers producing acidified foods can avoid receiving a similar FDA warning letter by ensuring each product in each container size has its own scheduled process filed. The scheduled process encompasses conditions for heat processing and control of pH, salt, sugar, and preservative levels in acidified food products. The most recent guidance for acidified food makers was released in November.
More manufacturers are reformulating and creating new products to suit consumer health trends and government regulations or recommendations (such as the FDA's potential sodium reduction targets). As they do, manufacturers have the additional required step of ensuring all safety risks are evaluated and documented in terms of processes to mitigate those risks, per new FSMA rules.
These preventive and documentation requirements may be a hassle, but they could save manufacturers significant financial and reputation costs by preventing recalls, which have been prevalent in recent weeks. Last week, TreeHouse Foods recalled a number of snack food products that contained sunflower seeds that could be contaminated by listeria.
FDA also began an investigation into a deadly listeria outbreak traced back to frozen fruits and vegetables from CRF Frozen Foods. The outbreak has since led to a massive recall of products from retailers like Costco, Wal-Mart, and Trader Joe's, and the facility blamed for the contamination has been shut down.