Pests and situations that could lead to pest infestations were the primary focus of an FDA warning letter sent to a refrigerated, frozen and ambient warehouse. The facility was cited for numerous pest violations, including observations of rodent excreta pellets in numbers too numerous to count in various places around warehouses, on boxes and pallets of product, on burlap sacks containing ingredients; live maggots; and gnaw marks, rodent hairs and rodent excreta pellets in tested food samples. Additionally, observing gaps around doors, open doors, and overgrown vegetation near the building perimeter, the inspector cited the facility for having conditions that could lead to further pest infestation. While the company was attempting to control pests, as evidenced by a toxic insecticide at the plant, the storage of the insecticide near food could lead to food contamination and was thus cited as another noncompliance. Pests are known carriers of bacteria that can cause foodborne illness, so any evidence of pest presence sets up a danger in a food facility, with the observation of actual pests of critical concern.
