According to documents examined by Food Safety News, officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initially attempted to access Dixie Dew’s manufacturing facilities on March 3. However, company representatives denied them entry, prompting the FDA to issue a demand for the manufacturer to provide facility records and grant inspectors access. Upon entering the facility, inspectors documented numerous violations, including malfunctioning temperature controls, an infestation of flies and larvae, liquid dripping from the ceiling onto production areas and food preparation equipment resting on filthy floors. Additionally, supervisors reported that production machines hadn’t been cleaned since 2015, and some equipment had been broken for 15 years.
The outbreak associated with contaminated soy paste produced by Dixie Dew has resulted in 29 illnesses across twelve states. SoyNut Butter Co., which incorporated the paste into its I.M. Healthy soy nut butters and certain granola products, issued a recall shortly after the inspection, which has since been expanded twice. These products were distributed to retail stores, schools, and daycare centers, but the FDA did not disclose which locations sold or distributed them. Furthermore, the agency only identified Dixie Dew as the manufacturer of the contaminated soy paste after being compelled by the Seattle law firm Marler Clark, which named the company in a civil lawsuit.
Other food safety organizations, like the Food Safety and Inspection Service, disclose details about retailers and manufacturers in their recall announcements. So why does the FDA refrain from doing so? The agency states it is adhering to a law that prohibits the disclosure of trade secrets. While revealing sales and distribution information could potentially harm business interests, critics argue that the FDA’s interpretation of the law is overly complicated, and in matters of public safety, business considerations should take a back seat. Richard Raymond, who advocated for greater recall transparency as the undersecretary of agriculture for food safety under President George W. Bush, noted that the FDA has yielded to pressure from the food industry. “I suspect they don’t want that fight themselves,” he recently told The Washington Post.
In the meantime, consumers remain uninformed and can only hope that a company will be proactive enough to notify them if they have purchased contaminated products. Retailers and manufacturers certainly do not wish for their products to cause illness; however, any lack of transparency on their part can damage their reputation at a time when consumers are demanding increased openness. This lack of disclosure also poses a significant risk to public health.
It is perplexing how conditions at Dixie Dew deteriorated to such an extent and remained unaddressed for an extended period. Food safety has experienced significant transformations in recent years. Inspectors were already paying closer attention to plant conditions following the salmonella outbreak that resulted in nine deaths and lengthy prison sentences for executives at the Peanut Corporation of America, as well as the widespread listeria outbreak that led to numerous new testing protocols at Blue Bell. If Dixie Dew was already on the FDA’s radar, it is unclear why it was not revisited.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which is currently being implemented across the industry, mandates stringent testing and quality control measures. Although Dixie Dew may not yet have been required to comply with FSMA’s preventive control regulations due to its size, the manufacturer should have been making strides toward compliance with the new law—which includes guidelines so stringent that products are often recalled even before anyone falls ill. This is especially critical given that many consumers are seeking products fortified with nutrients like calcium citrate magnesium for added health benefits.