New York City

Sen. Schumer urges FDA action against filthy Brooklyn food suppliers

January 12, 2015 By Charisma L. Troiano, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Chuck Schumer demands FDA action over dirty food suppliers. AP Photo/Susan Walsh
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U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-Brooklyn) is asking that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review its policies, increase the number of visits and raise the fines levied against food distributors following reports from earlier this month of deplorable conditions at a Brooklyn-based warehouse.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that New Yung Wah Trading Co., with headquarters located at 311 Richardson St. in Greenpoint, was cited by the FDA for serious violations of food storage and vermin control in its Philadelphia warehouse. 

From Oct. 15 to 30, the FDA made repeated visits to New Yung Wah’s facility in McKees Rocks, Pa., and discovered several violations in the way food products “were prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions,” causing concerns that the food products “may have been contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health.”

Some of the violations included the discovery of birds flying throughout the warehouse and rat excrement near bags of flour and meat.

“Warehouses that supply food to restaurants here in New York have conditions that would make your stomach turn,” Schumer said. 

According to the New York Post, Schumer plans to ask the FDA to make yearly inspections of food facilities with a history of disgusting conditions, create an online database that allows the public to track violations and increase fines for re-inspection.

New Yung Wah would be such a candidate for increased fines. In August, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture intercepted one of the company’s truck headed to Ohio containing spoiled and unsafe meat.

New Yung Wah stated that it took steps to “aggressively addressed the deviations.”

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