Tuna Salad Sandwiches Seized from Unsanitary Conditions in Louisiana

The Food and Drug Administration has ordered the seizure of more than $72,000 worth of tuna salad sandwiches and other food products from a Louisiana company due to filthy, rat-infested conditions found in the company’s processing facility.

Bearden Sandwich Company Inc., which was doing business under the name Southern Belle Sandwich Co., in Baton Rouge, La., was producing food in conditions which violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and provisions of the Seafood Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point regulations, the FDA said.

Federal agents acting on directions from the FDA seized the products, which will be tested for contamination then destroyed.

Inspections of the company facility uncovered evidence of widespread rodent and insect infestation, poor employee sanitation practices, filthy conditions, and other problems, officials said. One of the issues involved employees allowing food-processing utensils to lie on the floor around live insects.

Sandwiches and food processed by the company were sold in convenience and retail stores in southern Louisiana, Mobile, Ala., Montgomery, Ala., and Crestview, Fla., the FDA said.

So far, there have been no reports of illnesses linked to Bearden Sandwich products, the FDA said. Still, the agency is advising consumers who bought the products to throw them in the trash and not eat them. Also, consumers should thoroughly wash their hands with warm, soapy water after handling the foods to avoid the risks of bacterial contamination.

Salmonella, E. coli, and other forms of bacterial food poisoning cause thousands of illnesses and hundreds of deaths in the United States each year. Recent outbreaks of ground beef, sprouts, peanuts, pistachios, and other foods tainted with the bacteria have been the subject of product recalls.

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