The U.S. government filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, 9 March, against a Washington state seafood processor that it wants to shut down for safety reasons.
The U.S. Justice Department, acting on the request of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is seeking an injunction keeping Diane Zollinger and her company, Felix Custom Smoking, from operating until the FDA finds the processing company is adhering to food safety regulations.
The company is located in Monroe, Washington, roughly 20 miles northeast of downtown Seattle.
FDA inspectors discovered “an infestation of flies and other filthy conditions” that could lead to food becoming contaminated with listeria, the FDA said in a press release. While healthy adults may come down with a case of diarrhea, the bacteria poses more serious, sometimes fatal, threats for at-risk individuals, including the elderly, those with immune system issues or women who are pregnant.
“Food processors must ensure the safety of their products,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, who heads of the Justice Department’s Civil Division and is the lead attorney in the case, in a statement. “The department will continue to work closely with FDA to stop the distribution of contaminated food.”
On 27 August, 2021, the FDA sent out a public health alert warning customers who bought Felix Custom Smoking products to throw them away because of the possible bacterial contamination. The federal agency also warned retailers and commercial fishermen to stop selling or distributing the company’s products for the time being.
Among the products in question were the company’s smoked salmon, smoked tuna, and salmon jerky products.
According to the 14-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for Washington state’s western district, Felix has not stopped production since the FDA’s alert more than six months ago. That’s despite FDA officials sending written notices and holding at least five calls with Zollinger to discuss the numerous violations inspectors found during visits in 2018 and in 2021.
Besides the filthy conditions, the complaint also stated inspectors found salmon jerky products were not cooked to at least a minimum temperature of 175 degrees.
Efforts by SeafoodSource to reach the company were not successful. No lawyer is currently listed as representing Felix Custom Smoking or Zollinger in federal court records.
Photo courtesy of grandbrothers/Shutterstock
