FDA forces StarKist to revise and seriously improve its standards

FDA forces StarKist to revise and critically improve its specifications

Wednesday, March 09, 2011, 23:00 (GMT + nine)

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lately addressed StarKist Co in a letter concerning the agencys findings previous November that the companys processing plant in American Samoa violated the seafood Hazard Analysis and Important Handle Position (HACCP) regulation.

The firm refused to hand around certain records during that time.

Investigators found decomposed fish and improper temperature controls that rendered the merchandise injurious to health and might lead to bacterial contamination with Staphylococcus aureus, the FDA advised StarKist President Ingu Park in a letter.

&quotYour canned tuna and pouched packed tuna are adulterated, in that they have been prepared, packed or held under unsanitary conditions whereby they might have been rendered injurious to wellness,&quot the FDA wrote.

In response, StarKist Good quality Assurance Director John Aaron Maxfield in December replied that StarKist would be updating the HACCP plan for the processing of loins, as well as normally critique its practices business wide and consider FDAs recommendations into account.

The FDA wrote that it would confirm the corrections for the duration of the following inspection.

We may possibly get additional action if you do not promptly appropriate these violations. For instance, we might get more action to seize your product or service(s) and/or enjoin your firm from working, the FDA warned.

But StarKist assured that its items pose no damage for human usage.

&quotAll StarKist items are secure and no product withdrawals are currently being initiated,&quot stated spokesperson Mary Sestric, reviews Foods Basic safety News.

&quotThe high quality and basic safety of all StarKist goods continues to be our highest priority. We are committed to providing high-high quality, nutritious merchandise to consumers and glimpse for techniques to continuously boost our goods and processes, she extra.

In 2010, the business informed that it would lay off 600-800 employees from its tuna-processing plant in American Samoa, which lower the plant’s function force to fewer than one,200 people from a large of a lot more than 3,000 two decades prior. This came as a end result of the US territory’s soaring minimal wage, which has hampered the companys efforts to compete with low cost labour overseas.

Controlling a lot more than one particular-3rd of the US tuna market share, StarKist features an annual earnings of USD 700 million.

The business is now owned by South Korea´s Dongwon Industries, the greatest tuna enterprise in the globe, which bought StarKist from Del Monte Foods in 2008 for USD 363 million.