Joshua Morrison/News
Velvet Ice Cream products displayed in a Mount Vernon store. The Food and Drug Administration recently issued a warning letter to the Utica-based ice cream maker after inspectors found pathogenic bacteria in the factory.
UTICA — The Velvet Ice Cream Company received a warning letter issued by the Food and Drug Administration that cited findings of listeria, a food borne pathogenic bacteria, in an inspection earlier this year.
The letter, dated May 6, says that nine environmental swabs collected throughout the Ready-To-Eat ice cream manufacturing facility in Utica during the FDA’s most recent inspection were positive for listeria. According to the letter, the same strain of listeria was found in 2017 and 2018.
The letter says that because the same strain has been found over multiple years, it indicates that there has been a resident pathogen, or harborage site in the facility since 2018. Based on the results of the inspection, the FDA determined that the ice cream made in the plant was “adulterated,” meaning it was packed, prepared, or held in unsanitary conditions where it could have been rendered hazardous to health.
Luconda Dager, president of Velvet, said that corrective actions were taken immediately following the results of the inspection on Jan. 30, 2019, and that the letter was sent after the corrections were made. The letter said that the corrections were made aware to the FDA through written statements from Velvet on Feb. 7, Feb. 27, March 17, and April 24.
The warning letter mentions that during the January inspection, it was determined that the company did not clean their non-food contact surfaces sufficiently or as frequently as necessary to protect against contamination, according to the FDA’s guidelines. During the inspection, employees were observed using a high-pressure hose to spray the floor with water while cleaning. Overspray from the floor fell onto clean equipment and unopened buckets of ingredients that were to be used the next day.
The letter mentions that among the other corrective actions, employees would be retrained on the use of water and clean up procedures, and the water pressure would be lowered.
Dager mentioned that listeria was found in a floor drain, but that drain was torn out following the inspection, and five new drains and a new floor were installed in the production area.
The floor replacement was due to the plant not being constructed and designed to facilitate maintenance and sanitary operations, according to the warning letter. The new floor is sloped to avoid the pooling of water, which can harbor pathogenic bacteria such as listeria. Dager said over $800,000 has been spent by the company on corrective actions. An inspection will take place to determine if the corrective actions made are satisfactory.
In a media statement from Dager on May 29, Dager said the listeria was found in non-food contact areas in the plant, and none of Velvet’s products have been affected. The company conducts daily testing for listeria in their products, and no listeria has been found so far, according to Dager.
“There is absolutely no listeria in these products,” Dager said.
The FDA recommends in the letter that the company continues to seek out and identify possible harborage sites of the bacteria, and states that the letter is not an all-inclusive list of violations the company might have made. Attempts to reach representatives of the FDA by the News were unsuccessful, as of press time.
No recall has been made on any of Velvet’s products. [ee]
