FDA inspections shutters seafood processor
A Hancock-based seafood processor has been shut down following food safety violations dating as far back as 2004.
Mill Stream Corp., which operates as Sullivan Harbor Farm, was the subject of a consent decree of permanent injunction after U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors found a number of serious violations at its processing facility where smoked fish products are made.
According to The Bangor Daily News, the FDA complaint alleges that Mill Street violated federal food safety laws by selling products “that have been prepared, packed or held under unsanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth or may have been rendered injurious to health.”
The most recent FDA inspections in March and April of last year found that the company failed to document that salt levels in water used in processing fish were high enough to control certain foodborne-illness-causing bacteria.
Additionally, inspectors found black mold growing in the door frame of a walk-in freezer and that proper measures weren’t taken to prevent pests at the facility. The BDN noted that investigators “observed rodent excreta pellets too numerous to count on the floor in an area where smoker trays are washed and dried.”
There are currently no known plans to reopen the facility but, before that can happen, Mill Street must retain at its own cost an independent lab to test the salt levels of the water in addition to product and environmental samples for the presence of listeria. It also has to undertake several more food safety measures and additional employee training.
The case was settled by Mill Street without admitting or denying the allegations by the FDA.
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