Since arriving on Madison’s University Avenue 38 years ago and

becoming a staple for many University of Wisconsin students, Bagels

Forever has expanded throughout the upper Midwest.  Now Wisconsin’s New

York-style bagel maker — still using its original bakery on University

Avenue — has received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

FDA

said the bagel bakery favored by generations of UW Badgers was only

scraping or brushing off food contact surfaces at the end of each

production day.  FDA said the food contract surfaces were not being

cleaned during production.

In an inspection

visit to the Bagels Forever bakery last April, FDA also said it found

that the processing facility makes 26 different varieties of bagels on

one manufacturing line without cleaning equipment between bagel

varieties that contain different ingredients 

“Specifically

there was crusted dough, dough residue, and chunks or dough on the

separators, bagel formers, and mixers, which were not cleaned between

the manufacturing of different bagel varieties,” FDA wrote in the July

22 warning letter to the Madison baker.

Production

procedures for cleaning equipment and then sequencing production at

Bagels Forever are not adequate, according to FDA.  They pose a risk of

contaminating subsequent products, a particular concern when allergenic

ingredients are used in preceding products and not subsequent ones.

Some Bagels Forever products are also “misbranded” within the meaning of the law, the FDA warning letter said. 

Its

“Bluebarry” bagel label uses the terms “All Natural” and “No

Preservatives” in a false and misleading way because the bagel includes

infused wild dry blueberries that contain the chemical preservative

potassium sorbate .

Also, Bagels Forever

 “Bluebarry” and 1st National Bagel Company “Bluebarry” are fabricated

from two or more ingredients that are not properly listed on labels.

 And the 1st National brand product does not properly list the name and

location of the manufacturer.

FDA also said

Bagels Forever uses sun-dried tomatoes and caramel color, ingredients

that contain sulfites, but sulfites are not listed on labels for Tomato

Basil and Pumpernickel bagels.