Listeria shuts down Calif. processor

A Torrance, Calif., seafood processor and importer has agreed to a consent decree with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that prevents the company from manufacturing or distributing seafood until it has corrected conditions in its processing facility, which is allegedly contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

According to a complaint from the FDA, Yamaya USA and its president, Daigo Irifune, processed seafood under conditions that spread Listeria contamination in the facility. The complaint alleges that Yamaya also failed to comply with the FDA’s current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) and hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) regulations.

Under the terms of the consent decree, Yamaya must meet several FDA food-safety requirements before it can resume manufacturing and distributing seafood. The consent decree also requires that the firm destroy all products that are currently in process or ready for shipment, and it must clean and sanitize the facility until laboratory results confirm no further Listeria contamination.

The firm must also hire a sanitation and food-safety expert to develop and implement a Listeria monitoring program and a HACCP plan, and it must hire an outside auditor to conduct inspections of the facility at least once every three months for three years and once every year for two years after that, for a total of five years of auditing inspections. 

So far, no illnesses tied to Yamaya’s products have been reported.

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