April 1, 2014 — A federal judge shut down a Listeria-plagued fish-processing facility in Brooklyn, NY, on Monday.
U.S. District Court Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf was not persuaded by the changing company names, players, or even their last-minute appeals to introduce new evidence. She signed a permanent injunction, closing the troubled Chester Street seafood-processing facility. It was a big win for government attorneys and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Previously the business name for the Chester Street facility was NY Fish. More recent operations at that location were under the name New York City Fish Inc., but the problem remained the same. In the six years prior to the current civil filing, FDA investigators had collected 48 fish and environmental samples at the facility.
FDA officials had warned the seafood processor about the persistent presence of the potentially deadly pathogen in the facility as long as four years ago.
“Based on the most recent FDA inspection, however, it is apparent that L. monocytogenes continues to reside in your facility,” Ronald M. Pace, FDA’s New York district director, wrote in a 2010 warning letter to the company.
Read the full story at Food Saftey News