SILVER SPRING, MD. — A Quaker Oats Co. production facility, the Food and Drug Administration said in a warning letter to parent company PepsiCo Inc.
In the June 12 letter to PepsiCo, released July 9, the FDA said it discovered Salmonella Cubana in Quaker’s granola bar and at the ready-to-eat cereal production plant in Danville, Illinois. Conduct a facility inspection in December. From December 19, 2023 to February 2, 2024. Chicago-based Quaker announced a voluntary recall of certain granola bars and cereals on Dec. 15, raising possible Salmonella contamination, then on Jan. 31 announced it had expanded the recall to include other cereals. , bars and snacks that would have possibly been affected.
Quaker had tested Chewy granola bars from the Danville plant in late November, and positive Salmonella patterns showed up in a PepsiCo lab in December, leading to the product’s recall a few days later, according to the FDA. The resulting inspection said a sample of food waste taken from a crack in the facility’s floor tested positive for Salmonella in an FDA test, and that the company was informed of the location in a Jan. 3 conference call. .
“You stated that you are aware of old isolates of Salmonella Cubana in your facility since at least 2020,” the FDA said in its June 12 letter to PepsiCo. “These effects may simply imply that the same strain of Salmonella Cubana has survived since 2020. “
Also in the letter, the FDA said the company discovered Salmonella Cubana in thirteen environmental samples from the Danville plant since June 2022. The FDA said that on April 3 it obtained a notice from the company informing it that it plans to permanently close the plant. Danville Facility. On that date, the city of Danville announced that PepsiCo plans to close the Danville production facility effective June 8 after 65 years in business.
The FDA also recommended the company make more efforts to ensure food safety.
“While it intends to halt operations at the Danville plant, it has other production facilities and is evaluating whether similar corrective moves are needed at its other plants to lessen the threat of contamination,” the firm said in the letter.
When asked on July 12 for remark on the FDA’s June 12 caution letter, Quaker Oats Co. it had taken action in reaction to the situation.
“Based on the findings discovered at the Quaker facility in Danville, Illinois, we have taken immediate action to ensure customer safety, permanently closing the site and dismantling all equipment,” Quaker said in a statement. “No other facility has the same problems, and the warning letter has no bearing on the products currently on the market. “
In releasing its second-quarter results on July 11, New York-based PepsiCo said Quaker Foods North America is still feeling the effect of product recalls but is making progress in resuming production of the products. affected and expects sales to decline during the month. balance of the year. For the quarter ended June 15, Quaker Foods reported year-over-year declines of 18% in net and biologics revenue, 4% in volume and 34% in operating profit.
“Quaker, you all know the situation,” Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s chairman and chief executive, told analysts at a telephone convention. “We are recovering the chain of origin. By the fourth quarter, we will be almost one hundred percent at the source. And obviously, at that point, the business will grow substantially because we’re just filling the pipeline shelves, so this shouldn’t be taken into account and it’s going to have a positive effect for us.
The initial recall of Quaker Oats Co. products included package types and lengths of Quaker Big Chewy Bars and Quaker Chewy Bars; Quaker Chewy Dipps and Mini Dipps granola snacks; Quaker Puffed Granola, Quaker Simply Granola, and Quaker Protein Granola cereals; and the Quaker Chocolatey Favourites and Quaker On the Go snack combinations, as well as certain Quaker and Frito-Lay candy and salty snack combo boxes containing the affected items. The expanded recall included more types of Quaker Chewy granola bars and cereals, Quaker oat cereals, and Cap’n Crunch, Gatorade, and Gamisa Marias brand bars and/or cereals, as well as a safe length of Munchies snack packets. combine.