Whole Foods Nailed For Unsanitary Conditions In Food Prep Plant

East coasters who rely on Whole Foods' ready-to-eat meals to live are going to want to rethink their strategy for a while. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently nailed Whole Foods for filthy, injurious conditions at a plant in Massachusetts that prepares ready-to-eat foods for the high-end supermarket chain. The meals are distributed throughout 74 stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Northern New Jersey. The sickening details in the FDA’s letter, dated June 8, explain that plant workers were preparing foods in areas where condensation dripped from ceilings, doorways, drainage pipes and fans, or in areas that didn’t have adequate splash guards to protect from hand washing stations. The letter also alleges that employees didn’t take breaks to wash their hands or change gloves between handling foods and packaging them into bulk cartons. Inspectors also observed an employee spraying down work surfaces in close proximity to others who were packing ready-to-eat salads, which meant the sanitizer liquid was sprayed onto an open container of salad greens. These sanitation violations meant the food products "were prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health." Whole Foods pushed back on the FDA letter, and said that they've addressed the violations. "We were honestly surprised,” said Ken Meyer, executive vice presi...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news