Kellogg Receives FDA Warning over Listeria Contamination

On June 7, Kellogg Co. (Battle Creek, MI) received an FDA warning letter due to Listeria monocytogenescontamination at Kellogg’s Augusta, Georgia cookie plant.

The warning letter relates to a facility inspection conducted by FDA back in February.

FDA said foods produced in the facility were “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health.”

The agency went on to outline the number of ways in which this contamination may have occurred:

Bacteria may enter and/or be transported through a food plant by a variety of routes that include, but are not limited to: roof leaks; the shoes of employees, contractors, and visitors; the wheels of fork lifts, pallet movers, and moveable equipment; soiled pallets; soiled raw material packaging; raw ingredients; and by various pest vectors. Once established on production area floors the organism can contaminate food and food-contact surfaces through either human or mechanical means.

Kellogg Co. has 15 days to respond to FDA with an outline of ways in which the company will take action to correct its violations.