Texas Closes Greens Processing Plant Linked to Four Deaths

Tainted Celery Behind The Forced Shutdown Of The Plant

San Antonio, TX, (Oct. 20, 2010) – USA Today reports that Texas officials have ordered the Sangar Fresh Cut Produce company to shut down after its chopped celery was linked to at least four deaths and two other illnesses in the state over the past eight months, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services spokeswoman, Carrie Williams.

The San Antonio factory was ordered to shut down and recall everything it has shipped since last January, after recent laboratory tests of its celery showed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause muscle aches, diarrhea, and vomiting. It is most dangerous for seniors, pregnant women, newborns, and people with weakened immune systems.

The product appears to have shipped product only within Texas. However, their website says that its products are shipped “indirectly through several of our customers” in Oklahoma. Heath officials in that state are now investigating.

Sangar primarily sold cut, fresh produce in sealed packages that were distributed to restaurants and institutional entities such as hospitals and schools, but not to grocery stores, as far as Health Services can determine.

Officials believe Listeria may have contaminated other food there as well, because the company chopped other produce “on the same line as the celery, using the same equipment,” Williams said.

Texas originally asked the company to close voluntarily, but it refused, Williams said. At that point, officials ordered the closure and recall under aTexas law that allows such orders to be enforced when conditions exist that pose “an immediate and serious threat to human life or health.”

Growponics Americas, LLC, is building a unique, Israeli, shallow-water hydroponic greenhouse system in Texas that grows greens without herbicides, pesticides, chemicals and without pathogens. This facility will bring healthy and safe Local Grown food to the marketplace, where it can be supplied 365-days-a-year to groceries, restaurants, and institutional buyers.

*image taken from AP