A Harbor City, Calif., food manufacturing facility and a Bronx, N.Y., seafood importer received warning letters that were recently released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Environmental samples taken inside the California food processing facility owned by Flying Food Group LLC revealed the presence of the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes near food and food contact surfaces. In the warning letter, FDA said its inspection found “significant” violations of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). It said the facility was making food for four years with an ongoing pathogen problem. The Dec. 22, 2015, warning posted for public view in recent days said the Listeria isolates found in August 2011 are virtually identical to those found in April 2015. “These violations and our findings of a persistent strain of L. monocytogenes in your processing facility between August 2011 and April 2015 cause your ready-to-eat food products to be adulterated…” the FDA warning letter to Flying Food says. The cGMP violations FDA noted involve raw spinach crates stored on a cracked floor where Listeria was believed to be present, failure to clean and sanitize or maintain equipment and utensils, and to keep buildings or fixtures in a sanitary condition. In the Bronx, the FDA warning letter went to the Caribbean Variety Store for serious violations of the the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations. Caribbean is failing, according to FDA, to document that its imported fish and fish products are processed under conditions equal to those imposed on domestic seafood companies. For that reason, the agency says Caribbean’s dried smoked Curass (catfish) are adulterated under U.S. laws and regulations. The seafood importer was told it must provide documentation that its dried smoked Curass is brought into compliance with FDA’s requirements. If it does not promptly make the corrections, FDA warned the the agency’s next stop could be to impose an import alert on the product at the border, which would mean agents would detain the foreign catfish at the border with the need to conduct additional inspection. Both warning letters also served as notice that when the FDA re-inspects the facilities, the costs will be billed to the companies. Corrected content: The original version of this news story incorrectly stated the location of the Flying Food Group LLC facility, which is in Harbor City, Calif. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)