The U.S. Department of Justice has enjoined Irvington Seafood Inc. from selling specific crab meat products after 16 years of FDA findings of unsanitary seafood processing and storage.
The federal court imposed a permanent injunction against firm owner Kevin S. Sakprasit and executives Helene Nou and Kammie C. Richardson. The settlement resolves complaints. Liability is unknown.
The corporation recalled several crab items due to FDA findings over a year before the legal case. After testing the crab on May 9, the FDA found contamination on May 27, 2022. The FDA found Listeria monocytogenes on cooking equipment and in a kitchen.
According to the injunction announcement, multiple FDA inspections of the defendants’ facility between 2006 and 2022 found that they prepared, packaged, and held crabmeat products in unsanitary conditions and violated current good manufacturing practices and seafood hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) regulations.
The complaint argues that the defendants ignored repeated FDA warnings.
The complaint alleges that FDA inspectors found maggots, flies, and roaches, Listeria monocytogenes on food contact and non-food contact equipment, and employees not washing their hands and aprons. Listeria monocytogenes-contaminated food can kill babies, the elderly, and persons with compromised immune systems.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said food makers and distributors must follow the law. The FDA and the department will work together to assure food safety.
The injunction noted the firm sold its items nationwide.
The corporation settled the lawsuit and consented to a permanent injunction. They must destroy all food and raw ingredients by court order. The defendants must inform the FDA before manufacturing or distributing food, comply with injunction-mandated remedial steps, and allow FDA inspections.