The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warning letters to Spain’s Bacalao Giraldo and Venezuela’s Procesadora Marina De La Costa Oriental Del Lago for failing to meet crucial food safety standards.
The two companies, both of which process seafood for worldwide export, had serious problems in their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans, according to the administration.
On 30 September, the FDA warned Bacalao Giraldo that its investigations had revealed that HACCP plans for refrigerated and frozen desalted cod was inadequate to prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum, a bacteria that can cause nausea, vomiting, vertigo, fatigue, and even death if consumed.
The letter enumerated key violations, including that the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) which the company used did not include enough oxygen to prevent the growth of bacteria, that the company did not have temperature monitors to track fluctuations in refrigeration during product distribution, that products possessed inadequate labeling and storage instructions for consumers, and that the firm had failed to attend to concerns which the FDA had previously brought to its attention.
The warning letter recommended immediate changes to the firm’s HACCP plan and advised that failure to do so may result in product detention. Bacalao Giraldo, according to its website, sells cod wholesale worldwide.
The FDA also issued a warning letter to Venezuela’s Procesadora Marina De La Costa Oriental Del Lago, addressing its failure to control hazards, like the growth of Clostridium botulinum, in its ready-to-eat (RTE) crabmeat products, including jumbo lump, lump, and cocktail claw crabmeat.
The FDA’s letter details three key violations at the firm: inadequate cooling processes of cooked crab, lack of temperature monitoring, and failure to implement time-temperature indicators (TTIs) in product packaging.
Though the company listed hourly cooler temperature checks, the FDA stated that continuous time-temperature monitoring was required to successfully prevent pathogen growth. Additionally, the company’s HACCP plan did not include using TTIs for refrigerated crabmeat in reduced oxygen packaging (ROP), which the FDA said was required to indicate exposure to unsafe temperatures during distribution.
Procesadora Marina De La Costa Oriental Del Lago was also warned that their products could be detained if these issues were not corrected.
Clostridium botulinum spores grow well under low-oxygen conditions and are most commonly found on food that is improperly canned, often at home. Low-acid foods, like fish, are especially susceptible to C. botulinum growth because while improper canning can kill the active bacteria, it doesn’t kill the spores, which can later grow into active bacteria themselves.
