Four food companies received warnings about their operations in the latest batch of warning letters posted last week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). R-Dream Farms LLC in Corry, PA, sold a dairy cow last August which was found to have cefazolin in its kidney tissues. FDA has not established a tolerance for residues of cefazolin in dairy cows to be processed for human food, so the presence of the drug in the animal’s edible tissue caused the food to be adulterated, FDA stated. L & L Crab’s seafood processing facility in New Iberia, LA, had “serious violations” of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) regulations, as did Honolulu seafood processing facility Ham Produce & Seafood Inc. L & L Crab’s frozen vacuum-packed crayfish tail meat, fresh crab meat, and frozen vacuum-packed crab meat products were considered adulterated by FDA “because they have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health.” The company’s HACCP plans lacked certain critical control points and critical limits and did not identify the hazard of environmental chemicals for crab meat, FDA stated. In addition, L & L Crab did not record monitoring observations listed in the plan for crab meat. Ham Produce & Seafood’s fresh, refrigerated seafood products, including histamine-forming fish, tuna, were considered adulterated. The company failed to take corrective action when temperatures recorded critical limits and failed to deal with cross-contamination from a dirty ice container, cutting knives stored in unsanitary areas, and hand-washing. Miami cheese manufacturer Oasis Brands Inc. shut down after a sample of its Lacteos Santa Martha Quesito Casero Fresh Curd cheese product and environmental samples from the manufacturing facility tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes. “We appreciate that you discontinued processing and repacking,” FDA wrote. “If you have resumed, or plan to resume repacking, we request that you provide us with documentation demonstrating that you are adequately controlling the hazard of L. monocytogenes at your facility.” The letter stated that Oasis failed to clean and sanitize equipment “in a manner that protects against contamination of food, food-contact surfaces, or food-packaging materials” and failed to report to the Reportable Food Registry within 24 hours of determining that an article of food could cause serious adverse health consequences or death. In each letter, FDA requested that the companies provide written responses detailing steps taken to bring the facilities into compliance with food-safety laws and regulations, to correct violations cited in the letters, and to prevent their recurrence. Recipients of these warning letters have 15 working days from receipt to outline specific steps they have taken to come into compliance with the law. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)