CRF Frozen Foods is unable to identify the contamination source that prompted a massive recall and led the company to lay off 300 workers at its Pasco plant.
Gene Grabowski, a consultant acting as spokesman for CRF during the crisis, said the company will turn its attention from trying to find the source of the deadly Listeria pathogen to securing federal approval to restart production.
It’s not unusual for the source of a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak to elude investigators.
Bill Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm specializing in food safety, said hunting for Listeria is akin to hunting for a needle in a haystack.
Listeria is a common pathogen that takes minute quantities to sicken and kill humans.
“You don’t have to have a filthy, dirty, horrible plant to have Listeria,” said Marler, who is in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss food safety issues with the federal officials.
“The cleanest plant in the world can be harboring Listeria.”
CRF won’t resume production until the U.S. Department of Agriculture gives its authorization.
First, it will conduct its own testing and review CRF’s records. Grabowski said there’s no way to know when CRF might be able to resume packing frozen foods.
CRF Frozen Foods recalled 15 products on April 22 when tests linked a strain of Listeria in products made at its Pasco plant to eight patients in Maryland and California. Two patients later died, though their deaths were not directly attributed to Listeria.
On April 25, CRF expanded the recall to cover all 358 frozen organic and traditional fruits processed in Pasco dating to May 2014. For a complete list of recalled items, visit the company’s web page, bit.ly/CRFRecall.
The products were sold in a wide variety of groceries, including Trader Joe’s and Safeway.
