Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 19, 1993 TAG: 9306210314
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
State inspection records show that within the past year, Virginia residents have claimed to have found glass, a mouse head and a 12-gauge shotgun shell in soft drinks bottled at Pepsi plants in Newport News and Hollins.
Likewise, a 1-inch glob of grease, a finger rubber and an unidentified object the size of a dime were reported found in Coke bottled in Roanoke.
Inspectors from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Division of Dairy and Foods say there is nothing unique or alarming about the reports. More than 1,000 complaints are lodged annually about foreign objects found in all types of food and drink canned and bottled in the state.
Each complaint is investigated, said Doug Saunders, program supervisor. "But once [a can or box] is opened, it's hard to say that it was there before it was opened,` he said.
Saunders said that in the majority of cases, problems with food products are not what people "understand them to be."
For example, what someone may believe to be glass may actually be sugar or "other naturally occurring chemicals" that have crystalized in a soft drink, Saunders said.
And what is taken for a mouse's head may turn out to be mold that has grown in a drink bottle or can. Air and mold spores can infiltrate microleaks, causing mold to multiply and clump together, Saunders said.
"That's not to say we don't find things in products that shouldn't be there," Saunders said.
His agency sometimes finds that pieces of packaging equipment have broken off or plastic buckets from conveyor belts have been chewed up in the process and deposited in corn-flake boxes and soda bottles.
Saunders has no trouble swallowing the complaints, but some consumers might have trouble swallowing their soft drinks if they knew what state inspectors routinely find in checking the 26 soft drink bottling plants in Virginia.
According to records from a May inspection at Pepsi's Newport News plant, a decomposed mouse was found in a pallet storage area; live and dead roaches were found in three different areas, including scattered on the floor of a walk-in cooler adjoining the room where soda concentrate is stored; and several dead insects were found in a container of "anti-foam" stored in the concentrate room.
"I know at first look, it really seems filthy," Saunders said. "But you have to look at where the insects [and rodents] were found and in what numbers. They weren't found on the processing line."
Similarly, when inspectors visited the Roanoke Coke plant in January, they found mouse droppings in a cooler where ingredients are stored, but no infestation on the line.
In the same inspection, oil also was found leaking from a motor above a tank in the syrup room, from motors above the 16 ounce (bottle) line in the filling room and from a motor above the lid-sealing machine in the can-filling room.
Leaks in roughly the same places were reported in the plant's May 1992 inspection and the August 1991 inspection, but no citation has been given.
A February inspection of the Pepsi Bottling Plant in Hollins turned up flaking paint throughout the plant and some missing tiles in the bottling room. The plant agreed to make repairs.
Saunders said it's rare that inspectors check a plant "and find nothing"
"It's common to find insects. They go to the syrup areas because that's where the sugar is."
In many instances, "violations may appear numerous, but they may not warrant any action. What it depends on is the type of establishment and the chance of what we find leading to product contamination," he said.
The lack of citations is not surprising in an enforcement system that puts a premium on voluntary compliance. Saunders said most problems are resolved informally, in meetings between inspectors and processors. State officials can shut down a plant by seizing its contents for sampling and taking egregious violators to commonwealth's attorneys for prosecution under Virginia food laws, but Saunders said that is rare.
While the lack of citations and prosecutions reflects favorably on food processors, it also underscores the fact that the state has just 28 inspectors to check 10,000 beverage bottling plants, grocery stores, convenience stores, bakeries, fruit and vegetable processing plants and food warehouses. Each facility is visited at least twice annually.
The federal Food and Drug Administration, which also monitors food producers and processors in Virginia for safety and sanitation, has even fewer inspectors - 17 for Virginia and parts of Maryland - who try to visit establishments once every two years.
"It would be nice if we had more," Saunders said.
His department would like at least 50 inspectors, Saunders said. That would permit three unannounced inspections each year to each plant and store, he said.
"We'd have enough people to make the routine inspections, handle complaints and do more, like educating the public and the industry on food safety," he said.
\ FOOD SAFETY TIPS\ \ Make sure packaging is intact. Do not purchase it if it's split open or seals are broken.\ \ Don't purchase cans with severe dents or where dents are present around the seams. Swollen cans also should be rejected. If it's the least bit swollen, don't consume it. For the time being, pour canned and bottled beverages into a glass before consuming.\ \ If you find a foreign object in your food Contact the Division of Dairy and Foods in Richmond at (804)-786-3533 or (804)-786-3520.
by CNB