Home Style Foods, a Hamtramck, Mich., food manufacturer, on Jan. 13 agreed to discontinue selling food products until the company complies with federal regulations and other requirements, following the repeated discovery of Listeria monocytogenes in the company’s food preparation area.
The action follows several inspections stretching back 10 years by the FDA, which also found violations of seafood safety regulations associated with the processing of fish and fishery products.
The agreement follows a U.S. District Court consent decree of permanent injunction between the U.S. and the company, its owner, Michael J. Kowalski, and quality manager Juan Valesquez.
A notice on the FDA website said: “After repeated food safety violations, the FDA worked with the U.S. Dept. of Justice to obtain this injunction in order to prevent potentially contaminated food from reaching consumers," said FDA Chief Counsel Stacy Cline Amin. "The company failed to take the appropriate corrective actions resulting in this action.”
The consent decree requires the defendants to make corrective actions and notify the FDA before operations may resume.
According to the complaint filed with the consent decree, the FDA inspected the facility seven times between May 2009 and June 2018. During each inspection, the FDA investigators observed significant objectionable conditions. The FDA also found Listeria in the facility in two of the inspections, including the most recent inspection.
"The defendants repeatedly promised to take corrective actions to address the objectionable conditions," the FDA said. "However, the FDA’s June 2018 inspection showed that the defendants have failed to take effective measures to bring Home Style Foods’ ready-to-eat food processing operations into compliance with the law."
The FDA was not aware of any confirmed illnesses related to these products.
