New Hampshire’s Seaport Fish Company is back in the good graces of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) after a “Warning Letter” to the Rye, NH-based seafood products company.
“The safety and health of our customers is
paramount in our business,” said Rich Pettigrew, owner of Seaport Fish Co.,
LLC. “We take very seriously our responsibility to ensure food safety in
our daily operations. We adhere to stringent local, state and federal standards
designed to protect public health at our facility.
” We responded immediately to
address concerns and ensure consumer and product safety working in partnership
with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. The issues have been resolved,” Pettigrew added.
On Oct. 30th, Seaport Fish Company told FDA how it would comply with regulatory “deviations” identified during a July inspection. In a Nov. 12th letter Seaport Fish Company provided to Food Safety News, FDA found each of Pettigrew’s responses “to be adequate.”
Pettigrew said Seaport Fish Company became subject to FDA regulation only fairly recently as the firm expanded into both retail and wholesale operations.
Seaport Fish Company offers area restaurants “consistent, high quality fresh and frozen seafood products from around the world.”
The Oct. 14th “Warning Letter” was made public on Dec. 10th. The more recent exchange of letters was not available until provided to Food Safety News by the company.
In the “Warning Letter” FDA said Seaport Fish had food safety problems with its fresh tuna, cooked lobster and smoked salmon products.
Seaport Fish, which provides “hand-picked” fish, processed on site seven days a week and providing customers the exact cuts they want, had “deviations,” according to FDA in both its seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and Current Good Manufacturing Practices regulations.
FDA said Seaport Fish did not have a correct HACCP plans “for cooked lobster meat and smoked salmon to control the food safety hazard of pathogen growth and potential toxin formation.”
Seaport Fish was not, according to FDA, properly monitoring temperatures or checking for ice to control the formation of scombrotoxin.
FDA suggested the company get equipment that can monitor and record temperatures on a 24/7, seven day a week basis.
Pettigrew said this was the first time FDA suggested new temperature monitoring to the company. Previously, it checked temperatures at specific times during the day.