Portland Shellfish cleared to reopen
The federal government has allowed a Portland seafood processing company to resume selling shellfish after it had been temporarily closed for health concerns.
Last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared Portland Shellfish to restart its processing and distributing facility in South Portland, according to press releases from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. About 50 employees are able to return to work, and more are expected to be back on the job next week when the company's crab processing facility is reopened.
Portland Shellfish, which employs 150 and has two facilities in Portland and South Portland, in early January was temporarily shut down while issues surrounding findings of unsanitary conditions and violations of federal health safety laws were resolved. At the end of January, the company signed a consent agreement with the FDA that prohibited it from shipping its ready-to-eat lobster, shrimp and crab products across state lines until the FDA approved its safety and sanitation plans. A spokesman for Collins says the company has been cleared to do business as usual.
Since 2008, Portland Shellfish has issued four recalls of its cooked lobster meat after the lobster tested positive for bacteria called Listeria monocytogenese, which causes listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease for some high-risk groups, according to the FDA.
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