FDA Warning Letter - MN Warehouse with Egregious GMP Violations

FDA issued a Warning Letter to the owner of a warehouse facility in Minnesota due to egregious GMP violations.  Hard to imagine food being stored in these conditions.

1. Did not take effective measures to exclude pests from your packing and holding areas to protect against contamination of food on the premises by pests - dead rodents, gnaw marks and holes in product, rodent droppings and live birds.
2. Did not maintain your building, fixtures, and other physical facilities of your plant in a clean and sanitary condition and in repair adequate to prevent food from becoming adulterated - leaky roof with damp/wet product below, product spillage in multiple locations
3. Did not store food under conditions that protect against biological, chemical, and physical contamination - improper chemical storage with the potential for contamination of food, refrigated food stored at ambient temperatures.
4. Failed to properly store equipment, remove litter and waste, and cut weeds and grass that may constitute an attractant, breeding place, or harborage for pests within the immediate vicinity of the plant,

FDA Warning Letter
https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm624404.htm
Gold Star Distribution., Inc. 10/19/18

West Philly Restaurant with leaking sewer line continued to operate for 4 days

A West Philadelphia McDonald's continued to operate after having a sewage leak...for at least 4 days.  By regulation, they are required to notify the city, and in the case here where the situation cannot be immediately fixed, they would be required to shut down.

And it was not like the restaurant didn't notice...it was so bad they installed porta-potties in the parking lot.  It was not until a consumer complained to the City because the restaurant smelled like....sh....poop.


W. Phila. McDonald's leaked sewage for days
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/special_reports/clean-plates/20150320_W__Phila__McDonald_s_leaked_sewage_for_days.html#3yek5f7JTtjQSwW8.99

SAM WOOD, PHILLY.COM
LAST UPDATED: Friday, March 20, 2015, 1:08 AM

As the stench of backed-up sewage permeated the restaurant, a West Philadelphia McDonald's continued selling Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, and fries over four days last fall, installing porta-potties in the parking lot but never notifying the city, which would have ordered a closure.

A complaint led the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to dispatch an inspector to the franchise at 52d Street and Columbia Avenue on Sept. 15. She found ruptured plumbing in both restrooms and "smelled sewage throughout the facility."

"The Person in Charge failed to notify the Department of an imminent health hazard and cease operations. Establishment has been operating with raw sewage backup for at least 4 days," La'Sandra Malone-Mesfin wrote in her report. She listed 24 violations, four of which were related to the plumbing.

There is no evidence that any customers or employees got sick, although most cases of food-borne illness go unreported nationwide.

Raw sewage in a restaurant is "a very high-risk situation," said Caroline Johnson, disease-control director for the city health department, who was talking generally.