In the latest batch of posted warning letters from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Gourmet Classic Salads seafood processing facility in Lake Wales, FL, was cited for “serious violations” of the seafood Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations. FDA stated that the company’s ready-to-eat seafood salad products were considered adulterated “in that they have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health.” The company’s HACCP plan for “Ready to Eat Seafood Salads” did not list the critical control points of processing/mixing and blending for distribution/shipping, FDA’s letter noted. There were also problems with some of the plan’s monitoring procedures and the frequency for each critical control point, and Gourmet Classic didn’t follow the monitoring procedures/frequencies of metal inclusion for all trays listed in their HACCP plan, the letter added. Flechard S.A.S., located in La Chapelle-d’andaine, France, was cited for misbranding issues with its Pure Butterghee (33 pounds), Butter Ghee Natural Milk (56 ounces), Butter Ghee Natural Milk (28.2 ounces), Frentel Bueurre Demi-Sel, and Bessofier unsalted butter products. These issues included failing to declare milk as an allergen, selling products as butter without conforming to the statutory definition of butter, fabricating products from two or more ingredients without declaring the common or usual name of each ingredient on the label, failing to use the appropriate statements to identity butter products made with lactic starter cultures, failing to label nutrition facts information in an appropriate format, failing to translate all required information on the labels into English, and failing to include the place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor on labels. Recipients of FDA 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.)
