FDA cites problems with warehouse that served local Asian restaurants

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The same warehouse in McKee’s Rocks, Pa., that delivered tainted food to 21 Asian restaurants in the Mahoning Valley in August is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA said in a Dec. 9 letter to the New Yung Wah Trading Co. in Brooklyn, N.Y., that it inspected the company’s warehouse at 1300 Island Ave. in McKees Rocks between Oct. 15 and 30 and found “significant violations” of FDA regulations for manufacturing, packing or holding food for humans.

The letter said the violations indicate that the food was “prepared, packed or held under unsanitary conditions whereby they may have been contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health.”

Among the violations was one requiring the facility to keep pests away from the plant to protect the food against contamination by pests.

On Oct. 15, inspectors saw an “apparent active rodent nest containing multiple rodents” near thawing meat and melons.

Four rodent carcasses were found on the first floor of the warehouse as well as birds flying throughout the facility.

“On Oct. 16, 2014, birds were observed flying through the facility and landing and defecating on stored food products,” the letter said. Rodent droppings were found in the facility and gnaw marks on various food items.

Plumbing and lighting problems also were found, and employees were seen smoking while handling food products for distribution, the letter said.

In August, the Mahoning County Health District visited 16 Asian restaurants in Mahoning County that were on a list of 21 restaurants in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties that received food from a truck that was stopped in Mahoning Township, Lawrence County, Pa.

That truck contained food that was not properly refrigerated, allowing products to be spoiled. The Mahoning County restaurants discarded the food they received, according to the Mahoning County health department.