Permanent Injunction Against San Francisco Rice Noodle Company to Stop Selling Adulterated Products

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/district-court-enters-permanent-injunction-against-san-francisco-rice-noodle-company-and
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

District Court Enters Permanent Injunction Against San Francisco Rice Noodle Company and Senior Officers to Stop Distribution of Adulterated Products

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Kun Wo Food Products Inc. (Kun Wo) and the firm’s co-owners, Zi Xing Liu and Zi Cheng Liu, to prevent the distribution of adulterated rice noodles, the Department of Justice announced today.

The department filed a complaint in the Northern District of California on April 12, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The complaint alleged that the defendants have a history of processing rice noodles under insanitary conditions. As detailed in the complaint, the company prepared, processed, manufactured, packed, held and distributed rice noodles to local customers in the San Francisco area.
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According to the complaint, a 2016 inspection by FDA documented that defendants failed to take all necessary precautions to prevent food handlers from contaminating food with microorganisms or foreign material. For example, as alleged in the complaint, an employee used the vat containing rice soaking for the day’s production to rinse her bare hands after handling equipment. In addition, as noted in the complaint, during a 2015 inspection, FDA documented employees using the vat containing soaking rice to rinse their bare hands, rags and buckets after using the rags and buckets to clean the production area with detergent. The complaint also alleged that employees touched dirty equipment and then used their bare, unwashed hands to grab rice noodles for packaging. The complaint further alleged that during the most recent inspection, FDA found that machines used to steam, cool, slice and weigh the rice noodles were covered in grease and grime, causing the first sheet of rice noodles coming off the production machine to contain particulate matter. According to the complaint, the most recent inspection also found that condensate dripped from a hose suspended from the ceiling into the vat containing soaking rice. Also, as noted in the complaint, condensate dripped from a copper pipe, with a green and black film on its surface, into a grinder containing rice for processing.

Further, the complaint alleged that during the 2015 inspection, FDA swabbed various surfaces in the firm’s production area, including the buckets used during processing and found the presence of bacterial contamination at the facility -- L. mono was identified on the exterior of one bucket and L. seeligeri was found on the exterior of another bucket. The complaint alleged that the firm’s employees routinely submerged these buckets in the water that contained soaking rice. .mono is the bacterium that causes the disease listeriosis. The most serious forms of listeriosis can cause meningitis and septicemia. L. seeligeri does not cause disease; however, it is a marker indicating that conditions are favorable for the survival and growth of L. mono.
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