The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA for short, is like a food safety police. They check on companies that make the foods we love to make sure everything is being made in a clean and safe way.
Recently, the FDA had to send a warning to a company in California called Barsotti Juice Company Inc. This happened because the company wasn’t following some really important safety rules that make sure their juice is safe to drink.
What the FDA Found
When the FDA visited the company’s place on November 20-21 and December 1 in 2023, they found some problems. The company wasn’t doing a good enough job in making sure their juice wouldn’t make anyone sick. This is really important especially for their carrot juice. They have plans for keeping the juice safe, but the FDA said that the plans aren’t strong enough.
Specific Issues With Carrot Juice Safety
For example, the company had a plan that talked about how they heat up the juice to kill bad germs, but the FDA said it wasn’t enough. They need to be sure to kill the toughest germs that can survive in juices, like the spores of Clostridium botulinum, which can be really dangerous. The company tried to show the FDA they had a good plan, but the FDA didn’t agree.
Labeling and Storage Concerns
Also, the company’s plan didn’t have good steps listed for making sure the juice stays cold, which is really important for keeping it safe. Even the company’s new plan didn’t fix these problems completely. If juices like carrot juice don’t stay cold or aren’t heated the right way, it can be risky because of those tough germs.
Let’s Stay Informed
Staying informed about food safety is super important. If you want to read the whole warning letter that the FDA sent to the company, it’s available for everyone to see. Remember, it’s always good to know more about how our food is made safe.
Don’t forget, you can always learn more about how to keep food safe at home and what to do if you hear about food recalls. Keep your foods at the right temperatures and be careful about cross-contamination, which is when germs from one food get onto another food.
That’s the scoop for today! Stay safe and take care of what you eat!