Virginia Company Issues 2nd Recall for Sprouts Due to Listeria

A Virginia company is issuing another recall after the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services found Listeria in the samples they had tested.  This is the 2nd recall for this company, the other recall occurring in 2012.


The Packer
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Sprout investigation — 32 months and counting

12/04/2014 01:41:00 PM
Coral Beach

Criminal charges may be the next step in Virginia’s efforts to protect the public from Henry’s Farm, a fresh sprout grower that has been on officials’ food safety radar because of listeria since April 2012. Courtesy Virginia Department of AgriculturePositive tests for listeria in fresh sprouts from Henry's Farm, Woodford, Va., spurred recalls in April 2012 and November this year. A warning letter from FDA states the labels on the packages violate federal law.

The 32-month case is the longest running investigation that Pam Miles, supervisor for the state agriculture department’s food safety and security program, can recall. Miles and Matt Ettinger, coordinator of the program’s food safety rapid response team, have been working with staff from the Food and Drug Administration on the problems at Henry’s Farm. Ettinger said Henry’s owner,

Soo Park, has made some improvements, but problems remain unresolved even though the business burned down in December 2012 and was rebuilt. Ettinger said listeria has been found in product and on surfaces at the previous facility and the new growing facility. A man who answered the phone at Henry’s Farm hung up when asked about the situation.

“We are currently considering what action we can take against them,” Miles said Dec. 3. “Compliance is voluntary. We don’t have administrative fines so we have to go through the criminal courts if a problem isn’t resolved and the public safety is at risk.

” Park voluntarily shut down operations at his Woodford, Va., facility in November after Virginia officials confiscated and destroyed all finished product, seeds and growing sprouts. The grower issued a recall Nov. 24.

Because of the facility’s history of listeria problems, Virginia food safety staff has been inspecting and testing at Henry’s every four months, Miles said. Miles said prosecution in such investigations is rare with only one or two criminal cases filed per year.

Even if prosecutors do file criminal charges, the state does not have a felony classification for food adulteration, Miles said. If convicted of misdemeanor violations, Park would face a $500 fine for each count.

An investigation by the Food and Drug Administration is ongoing.

In 2012, as in November of this year, random tests returned positive results for listeria monocytogenes in finished product. FDA issued a warning letter in August 2012, citing numerous sanitary problems and misbranding.

The Henry’s packages did not include the company’s name or location and were not labeled with the weight of the contents, according to the warning letter. The packages also did not include traceability information, which hampered recall efforts in 2012 and again this November. Ettinger said the labels still don’t have the required corporate information, but the food safety officials in Virginia are pursuing the listeria concerns first. Traceability information is not required by law. - See more at: http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/Sprout-investigation--32-months-and-counting-284786261.html#sthash.ZsSpdNTu.dpuf

The Packer
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UPDATE: Grower issues 2nd sprout recall for listeria in two years -

(UPDATED COVERAGE 12:40 p.m.) For the second time in two years Henry’s Farm Inc. is recalling fresh sprouts because of possible listeria contamination and as with the recall in 2012, efforts are hampered by a lack of traceability records and lot codes.

The quantity of sprouts under recall is not included in the notice on the Food and Drug Administration website, as was the case in 2012 when the Woodford, Va., grower recalled product. “The Henry’s Farms Inc. owner knows where the product was sold, but he does not have records on volume,” according to a statement from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“The company’s records are poor so we do not know, with certainly, exact distribution. However, the (department’s) Food Safety and Security Program is working with the company to accomplish the recall with the information we can gather.” Henry’s primarily distributed the sprouts to “Asian specialty” retail stores in Virginia and Maryland, according to the Virginia officials.

A person who answered the phone at Henry’s on Nov. 25 hung up when asked about the recall. No illnesses have been reported, according to the recall notice. Virginia inspectors collected product samples at the growing operation during the first week of November as part of a stepped-up inspection schedule based on previous issues, said agriculture department spokeswoman Sarah Pennington.

Those samples and follow up tests were positive for listeria monocytogenes. “We have done everything in our regulatory power to try to bring this company into compliance,” Pennington said Nov. 26. “After the recall in 2012 the facility burned down. They built a new one, but there were still compliance issues.

Because of the history it is considered a high risk facility and we inspect it every 10 to 12 months.” The specific Henry’s Farm sprout products currently recalled are: clear 1-pound packages of Natto Soybean Sprouts labeled as produced by Henry’s Farm Inc.; clear 2-pound packages of Bean Sprouts labeled as distributed by Rhee Bros. Inc. Columbia, Md.; and bulk (approximately 10 lbs.) black plastic bags of Soy Bean Sprouts labeled as produced by Henry’s Farm Inc -

After the April 2012 recall, the FDA sent a warning letter to Henry’s Farm president Soo Choul Park. It cited numerous sanitary problems, including rodent droppings in sprout seeds, foul odors associated with rodent infestations, dirt and debris buildup on equipment and the failure to use any kind of soap or disinfectant on equipment and food contact surfaces.

The FDA also noted that the company’s product labels violated federal law because they did not include the identity of the company, the manufacturer, distributor or packer. The labels also did not include statements of net quantity or weight. FDA officials were not available to comment on the status of the 2012 warning letter or the current recall as of Nov. 26. - See more at: http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/Sprout-grower-issues-second-recall-for-listeria-in-two-years-283967401.html?page=2#sthash.hPuAovFK.dpuf