The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently ordered Jensen’s Old Fashioned Smokehouse Inc., a processor of smoked fish products in Seattle, WA, to stop processing, preparing, packing, holding and distributing any food at, or from, its facility.
Jensen’s processes smoked fish products and distributes or sells them in its retail store, online and through other businesses in Washington, Oregon and California. According to an agency statement issued Friday, the order follows FDA’s analysis of environmental samples collected during its most recent inspection of the company’s facility, which confirmed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the facility, including in food processing and storage areas. These findings led FDA to order the company to cease operations in accordance with a 2001 consent decree. Jensen’s Old Fashioned Smokehouse is subject to a consent decree of permanent injunction, which was entered by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in 2001. Under the terms of the consent decree, the company agreed to comply with requirements to control food safety hazards and ensure that its products are not adulterated. Jensen’s must meet several requirements in order to reopen, including thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing the facility and hiring an expert to develop a Sanitation Standard Operation Procedure and an environmental microbial monitoring program for Listeria. Jensen’s must also test representative samples of all vacuum-packaged smoked fishery products on hand at the company for Listeria and provide the results to FDA.
