Michigan’s New Era Canning Co., closed for the past 7 months, is going to resume production. It’s been granted a temporary permit that will allow it to begin sales, bring back employees and resume processing.
The Muskegon Chronicle reports:
Rick Ray, the company’s president and chief executive officer, is optimistic that his family owned business will be back processing beans and other produce later this summer.
However, he said he is frustrated by the length of time the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has kept the company from returning to full operation.
“We certainly don’t feel this should have taken so long,” said Ray, the fourth generation of his family to lead the company. “It’s hard to imagine that our government can shut us down without telling us what their case is.”
He criticized the FDA for not returning phone calls or answering questions in a timely matter, and for not allowing the company’s hired technical consultants to review the test results. The recalls involving cans of beans, peas and asparagus in December, January and February were the first in the company’s long history.
FDA forced New Era to recall about 1.5 million cans due to concerns about potential botulism contamination in late 2007. It was closed in December. For more, go here.