July 19, 2010

Hundreds of Texas food manufacturers found to be unlicensed

In a state-wide crackdown, 355 companies across Texas have been found to be manufacturing and selling food without a state license and, in some cases, have escaped food safety inspections.

"Many of the companies we have discovered are small operations that were simply unaware they needed a state license," said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. "For the most part, they have been more than willing to get into compliance with us."

The majority of these newfound food manufacturers have passed their state inspections without serious problems, Williams said. So far, the state has levied no fines for unsanitary conditions.

"Some of them did have safety issues," she said. "Most were corrected on the spot or we're working with them to get them into compliance."

The state went searching for unlicensed food manufacturers in the embarrassing aftermath of last year's discovery of an unlicensed peanut-processing plant in West Texas.

The Plainview plant, owned by a subsidiary of Peanut Corporation of America, had operated for four years without any state-required safety inspections.

None of these new cases investigated so far rise to the level of the peanut plant, which closed in February 2009 after salmonella was detected in the plant.

Health department officials, however, said this search for unlicensed food manufacturers is an effort to reduce any potential for food contamination, which could be more likely to occur if a business were unlicensed and not inspected.

A two-year food manufacturing license costs US$104-US$1,731 depending on the company's gross annual food sales. The license also requires a periodic unannounced state inspection of the processing plant.