Peanuts, flour, rice and other foods stored in what regulators said was a rodent-infested warehouse were seized by U.S. Marshals on October 17.
Under a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and acting at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, marshals confiscated the various food products from the warehouse owned by Chetak Chicago LLC, in Streamwood, Ill.
The FDA, in a news release, said it initiated the action after investigators during a recent inspection found “live rodent and birds, rodent carcasses, gnawed product packaging, significant amounts of rodent fecal matter, rodent urine stains, and rodent nesting material” in the food warehouse.
According to the FDA, investigators collected more than 300 samples of materials showing significant unsanitary conditions, a violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
The seized goods had been under an Illinois Department of Public Health embargo since August 17.