Castleberry's Expects Restart
According to a top executive with Castleberry's Food Co., he is confident that the Augusta plant will restart sometime this week.
March 10, the plant on 15th Street was shut down, when the U. S. Food and Drug Administration and U. S. Department of Agriculture found deviations in how some of the equipment was being operated.
Senior Vice President Dave Melbourne stated, "we continue to work closely with the FDA and the USDA to reinstate our operating permit at our Augusta plant and hope to resume production early this week based on our current discussions with the agencies."
According to Mr. Melbourne the latest shutdown does not involve health or safety issues.
For two months beginning in July, the plant was shut down because botulism toxin was found in cans of chili sauce. The Centers for Disease Control reported that eight people were sickened in Texas, Ohio and Indiana.
The recall involved more than 90 of the plant's products and $35 million.
Currently there are two lawsuits pending against the company by people who said they were sickened.
During a February 27 inspection of the plant, deviations in some equipment operations revealed that undercooking of the meat could have resulted. Because of underprocessing caused the botulism outbreak, federal agencies decided to revoke the permit.
Over the past two weeks, most of the facilities over 330 employees have not worked.
Mr. Melbourne stated that he has been very grateful of the patience and understanding of the employees and customers during this time.
