13 replies to this topic

[AZuzack]

So I understand this could be a can of worms but since I'm the only QA person at my company I'm lacking the peers to have a healthy discussion on this Recall:

https://www.fda.gov/...including-drugs

 

I saw the recall on facebook before I saw it anywhere else and maybe that's why I question it.  You have to question everything you see on facebook, right?  

 

The recall to me is leaning to the excessive side.  I've had the QA responsibility over warehoused product when mouse droppings were found in one area. We did not throw away ALL the items in the warehouse the size of 4 football fields.  

 

On one hand, I get the problem.  There's lots of evidence of feces meaning there were animals and just because you can't see the evidence of the animal on this or that pallet, doesn't mean they didn't drag the bacteria all over it or maybe just across this tiny corner of it.  On the other hand, this food is already packaged likely behind some sort of plastic liner so the food itself is NOT contaminated, but we're still discarding food that had 2-3 layers of packaging and then a layer of stretch wrap or plastic shroud or both.  

 

Food for thought:

So is there more to this story?  How big was this warehouse?  Was the animal activity isolated to one area or more widespread?  Did the facility attempt to clean and sort through impacted pallets?  Is the concern that the warehouse didn't identify the issue, so you have to assume that anything touched by hands is now contaminated so any pallets that were broken down or restacked for shipment to smaller locations were "cross-contaminated" with the feces?  Did the warehouse not track pallet location so they don't know which pallets were in the area with the feces?  Were the animal culprits captured or identified?  Is the real concern that some of this product was medical devices or animal food?

 

I want to acknowledge that there are some powder keg potential questions that I'm going to ignore for the sake of trying to keep this discussion about food safety.  

 

To assist with discussion, here is a link to the May 2025 warning letter for another food warehouse that states that Inspectors actually visually witnessed live and deceased rodents in the warehouse across multiple days.  

https://www.fda.gov/...717171-11132025

 

 

 

[KellyQA]

If you go to the FDA Data Dashboard and type in Gold Star Distribution, you can see that they have had issues with pest control since 2012. 

It seems this issue is older than a decade for them. 

 

https://datadashboar...inspections.htm

 

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, Minnesota (Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA)) does not currently have a statewide public online register of food safety inspection reports. 

[Scampi]

The recall reads like there was a LOT of visible contamination and the operator opted to do nothing

[MDaleDDF]

Report read like it was pretty nasty to me....

[jfrey123]

Approximately 2,464 items recalled.  Holy crap!!!  Gold Star Distribution - Multiple Brand Names and Products  The products are from just about every major brand you could think of too.

 

FDA is stating they found bird droppings, rodent droppings and urine all over the products.  Pretty nasty.

[TimG]

Minneapolis is having a rough year so far.. 

[kfromNE]

https://www.fda.gov/...717171-11132025

 

This one is so bad and what I first thought about when you mentioned the recall. 

 

They had a pet cat for pest control but it wasn't trained well so it caused contamination too. A rodent also ran across the investigator/inspector's shoe. So glad I'm not an inspector. 

 

 

"On May 12, 2025, a dead apparent rodent was observed on the warehouse floor near where your live pet cat was standing."

"A domestic cat was observed roaming freely in the warehouse during the inspection. Cat feces and urine were documented on multiple inspection dates, in the warehouse"

"On May 12, 2025, an apparent rodent was observed exiting a bag of corn meal and running across an investigator’s shoe"

Edited by kfromNE, Today, 06:28 PM.

[MDaleDDF]

Minneapolis is having a rough year so far.. 

And it's not even February yet....

[AZuzack]

I didn't find the report to be overly insightful. It does not say all over all the product.  It says in the same area.  

 

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that the facility was operating under insanitary conditions, including the presence of rodent excreta, rodent urine, and bird droppings in areas where medical devices, drugs, human food, pet food, and cosmetic products were held." 

 

That could be like droppings on a corner in the back of a 2 football field sized room.  You wouldn't necessarily consider the product 100yds away to be adulterated.  There's no mention of nesting or infestation or animal sightings.  Birds get in warehouses and have to be shooed out and yes, someone has to inspect and release all the product but you don't just send everything in a warehouse to the dumpster.  When you compare it to the report from KY, KY sounds way worse than the Minneapolis infraction making the response seem disproportionate.  I guess I just expected a more detailed description for the level and extent of the recall.  

[bkrjones]

This recall reads very similarly to the Family Dollar recall back in 2022.

 

https://www.fda.gov/...tates-including

 

That lead to $40+ million dollar fine for them.

 

https://www.npr.org/...dents-warehouse

[SQFconsultant]

Minneapolis is having a rough year so far.. 

 

OMG, now that just made my day Tim!!!!!

[SQFconsultant]

Looks pretty apparent that those multiple brands stored there did not do their due diligence in ensuring where their product is stored is free of major issues.

 

Gold Star has quite the history, oh yes indeed they do.

 

I was just looking at the list of brands, products - upsetting to see Horney Goat Weed on there, a favorite.

Edited by SQFconsultant, Today, 08:22 PM.

[Scampi]

I didn't find the report to be overly insightful. It does not say all over all the product.  It says in the same area.  

 

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that the facility was operating under insanitary conditions, including the presence of rodent excreta, rodent urine, and bird droppings in areas where medical devices, drugs, human food, pet food, and cosmetic products were held." 

 

That could be like droppings on a corner in the back of a 2 football field sized room.  You wouldn't necessarily consider the product 100yds away to be adulterated.  There's no mention of nesting or infestation or animal sightings.  Birds get in warehouses and have to be shooed out and yes, someone has to inspect and release all the product but you don't just send everything in a warehouse to the dumpster.  When you compare it to the report from KY, KY sounds way worse than the Minneapolis infraction making the response seem disproportionate.  I guess I just expected a more detailed description for the level and extent of the recall.  

 

 

The details are privledged and private...........and for good reason

 

I think you are trying to justify your position at your facility       Do you really think they would force a recall for 20 individual pieces of feces in a massive warehouse?  Uh no

[Setanta]

I didn't find the report to be overly insightful. It does not say all over all the product.  It says in the same area.  

 

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that the facility was operating under insanitary conditions, including the presence of rodent excreta, rodent urine, and bird droppings in areas where medical devices, drugs, human food, pet food, and cosmetic products were held." 

 

That could be like droppings on a corner in the back of a 2 football field sized room.  You wouldn't necessarily consider the product 100yds away to be adulterated.  There's no mention of nesting or infestation or animal sightings.  Birds get in warehouses and have to be shooed out and yes, someone has to inspect and release all the product but you don't just send everything in a warehouse to the dumpster.  When you compare it to the report from KY, KY sounds way worse than the Minneapolis infraction making the response seem disproportionate.  I guess I just expected a more detailed description for the level and extent of the recall.  

 

 

When this first broke, late last year or early 2026, my inital (not quite rational) thought was the Administration really doesn't like MN, so this MAY be a finger on the scale. But reading some details, I am reconsidering.    

 

It been tough in Minnesota this winter.