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San Francisco Rice Noodle Company Shut Down for Adulterated Products
Kun Wo Food Products Inc., a San Francisco firm, has been shut down for selling adulterated rice noodles, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled. Co-owners Zi Xing Liu and Zi Cheng Liu have been held accountable for the firm’s insanitary practices.
The court entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Kun Wo and its senior officers to prevent the distribution of adulterated rice noodles. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had filed a complaint against the firm on April 12, alleging that it had a history of processing rice noodles under insanitary conditions.
According to the complaint, the firm prepared, processed, manufactured, packed, held and distributed rice noodles to local customers in the San Francisco area. The complaint alleged that Zi Xing Liu has ultimate authority over all of the firm’s operations, including financial expenditures, production processes and employee supervision, while Zi Cheng Liu shares responsibility with Zi Xing Liu for the firm’s production processes and is also responsible for product distribution.
In conjunction with the filing of the complaint, the defendants agreed to settle the litigation and to be bound by a permanent injunction. As part of the settlement, the defendants represented that they have ceased receiving, preparing, processing, packing, holding, or distributing any type of food at or from any location. Under the permanent injunction, if the defendants seek to resume such activity, they must first inform FDA, take specific steps to improve the firm’s manufacturing practices, and then receive written approval from FDA.
“Kun Wo Food Products was repeatedly informed that the sanitation practices at its facility were deficient,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively pursue food companies and individuals responsible for the production of food under insanitary conditions in order to protect the American people and make sure America’s food supply is safe.”
The FDA had documented several instances of insanitary practices at the firm’s facility, including employees using the vat containing soaking rice to rinse their bare hands, rags and buckets after using the rags and buckets to clean the production area with detergent. The complaint also alleged that employees touched dirty equipment and then used their bare, unwashed hands to grab rice noodles for packaging. The most recent inspection also found that machines used to steam, cool, slice and weigh the rice noodles were covered in grease and grime, causing the first sheet of rice noodles coming off the production machine to contain particulate matter.
Additionally, the complaint alleged that condensate dripped from a hose suspended from the ceiling into the vat containing soaking rice, and condensate dripped from a copper pipe, with a green and black film on its surface, into a grinder containing rice for processing. The complaint further alleged that during the 2015 inspection, FDA swabbed various surfaces in the firm’s production area and found the presence of bacterial contamination at the facility, including the presence of L. mono and L. seeligeri on the exterior of buckets used during processing.
Kun Wo Food Products Inc. has been ordered to cease all food-related activities until it can demonstrate that it has improved its manufacturing practices and received written approval from the FDA.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Food Contamination
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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