FDA orders LA Star Seafood Company to shutdown over failure to comply with regulations

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered the shutdown of Los Angeles-based LA Star Seafood Company until they demonstrate compliance with food safety laws and regulations.

FDA has undertaken various inspections of LA Star’s facilities since 2012, when the company had to recall some of its products due to potential contamination.

The following year, the company received a warning letter from FDA after an inspection outlining steps that needed to be taken to ensure compliance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and Current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements.

In 2014, another inspection by FDA revealed that the company was still unable to adhere to the law.

The company has entered a consent decree of permanent injunction, according to which it will control the presence of two disease-causing bacteria, Listeria monocytogenes (L mono) and Clostridium botulinum (C bot).

According to the agreement, LA Star and its owners will be required to stop processing and distributing smoked, salt-cured and pickled seafood.

LA Star will also need to formulate and put into practice ‘Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Plans’ and ‘Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures’, and train its staff in both. However, no product from the company has been found to be contaminated yet.

While L mono is a foodborne pathogen, and can lead to serious illness or even death in vulnerable groups including newborns, elderly adults and those with impaired immune systems, C bot is a bacterium that can grow in seafood products and cause botulism, which can result paralysis and death without prompt treatment.

FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs Melinda Plaisier said: "The FDA takes legal action to protect the public’s health when it is necessary.

"This consent decree represents an agreement between the FDA and LA Star to ensure that if and when they reopen for business, they will be producing food that meets food safety requirements."

---

Image: The company, which produces seafood, will need to prove to the FDA that it is manufacturing its products in healthy conditions. Photo: courtesy of PANPOTE/freedigitalphotos.net.