The complaint also names Rel's vice president, Peder Scott Sorensen, and two managers, Patrick O'Malley and Timothy E. Ault. Rel's prepares, processes and distributes a variety of ready-to-eat sandwiches to convenience [image-nocss] stores, deli markets, liquor stores, mini-marts and gas stations in Nevada and California.
The government's complaint, filed this week in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, alleges that Rel's has an extensive history of operating under insanitary conditions.
The complaint states that Rel's has produced and distributed ready-to-eat sandwiches contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes (L. mono).
The complaint alleges that FDA investigators have found L. mono inside Rel's production facility on numerous occasions since 2002. Additionally, routine laboratory testing by the Department of Defense and the California Department of Public Health Food & Drug Branch (CFDB) found L. mono in the company's processing plant and finished sandwiches. Based on recent laboratory analyses, CFDB has embargoed and seized all in-process and finished products inside the facility.
The FDA and CFDB inspections also revealed that the company repeatedly violated the current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) requirements for foods. Investigators found poor employee sanitation practices and inappropriately maintained facility and manufacturing equipment, including excessive condensation dripping onto food contact surfaces.
"Rel's lack of effective measures to bring its food processing operations into compliance with the law poses a serious public health threat," said Michael Chappell, the FDA's acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. "The company's failure to comply with good manufacturing practice also demonstrates the potential for the company to continue to manufacture contaminated products."
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