So we learn at least two interesting factoids about the case of the E. coli-contaminated Nestle’s cookie dough, through the reporting efforts of ABC’s Brian Hartman:
1. Not one, not two, but at least three strains of E. coli have been linked to the Nestle’s dough.
2. Food and Drug Administration inspectors claim to have followed every lead but can’t find a darn thing revealing how three different kinds of E. coli (which lives in the intestinal tracts of some animals including humans) got into the cookies and then sickened at least 72 people in 30 states. And they’re giving up.
“It is unlikely that we will ever make a final dettermination of how this contamination occurred,” Assistant FDA Commissioner for Food Safety David Acheson told Hartman.
Acheson’s declaration notwithstanding, it seems to me some pretty strong clues are floating around. For example, it has been said by some that you can predict the future by studying past history.
Thus we find these guideposts within past inspections of Nestle USA Inc.’s Danville, Virginia, plant (where the E. coli-laced cookie dough is said to have originated):
Food and Drug Administration Establishment Inspection ReportInspection Start Date: 03/12/2009
Inspection End Date: 03/12/2009…
Inspectional Responsibility: State Contract and Joint FDA/USDAEndorsement
This was a routine contract inspection of a manufacturer/processor. (Products: Pasta Sauces, Pasta, Cookie Dough)The previous 7/22/2008 inspection was classified NAI and findings included: No objectionable conditions were observed during the inspection. Corrections since last insp: N/A…
CURRENT FINDINGS: No unsanitary conditions noted. See state inspection report for list of observed GMP deficiencies…Corporate policy on refusal to sign inspection report. No samples were collected.
It appears from publicly available FDA documents that at least the last two inspections of the Nestle plant were done by a company contracted by the State of Virginia – not by government inspectors. The Virginia Department of Health, with whom the Nestle plant deficiencies apparently lie, maintains a horrible web site with very little useful public information available and a search mechanism that is broken.
The contractor, one Bud Anderson, found nothing amiss in March, but still provided these clues of interest in the inspection summary (XXs indicated redacted portions of the report):
The plant manufactures pasta and pasta sauces under the Buitoni brand name and cookie dough under the Tollhouse brand name…Nestle processes meat-filled pasta on-site and is under USDA/VDACS inspection. They receive most goods via XX transport and have three silos outside the firm for grain storage. Nestle also has another off-site warehouse for storage of packaging materials…
Clues:
1. Nestle manufactures meat sauce on-site. Meat comes from animals known to carry E. coli in their guts.
2. Some of the ingredients used in the plant are stored in outside silos. No available inspection reports indicate that these silos were themselves inspected.
Now lets use the Wayback Machine and briefly travel back to a Nov. 1-2, 2007, contract inspection:
CURRENT FINDINGS: See state inspection report for list of observed GMP deficiencies. General areas of deficiencies observed include: Equipment, Employee Practices. Refusal to allow photography, review of production records, processing controls, complaint files…
Clues:
3. Nestle refuses to provide the inspector (again, Bud Anderson) with the information he needs to do a creditable job. Has the FDA demanded those records? Evidence suggests not.
OK, back into the Wayback Machine to a February 20-21, 2007, state contract inspection by one Nathaniel R. Esaw:
CURRENT FINDINGS:
1. Miscellaneous tools/equipment were being stored in the hand washing sink in the “Toll House” preparation area.
2. The drain from the hand washing sink in the “Toll House” preparation area was leaking onto the floor.
3. The control pedal for the cold water flow at the hand washing sink was missing from the hand washing sink in the “powdered sugar” room.
4. Water was dripping from the vale on the cold water line above the XX.
5. A hole was found in the steam line above the XX#14, which was exposing fibrous insulation.
6. The perimeter of the floors in the “shipping warehouse” and the “Toll House Receiving” hallway were peppered with wood splinters, dust, cardboard lint, and unidentifiable particles.No refusals. No samples were collected
Clues:
4. Nestle’s plant has a past history of soaking potentially contaminated things in a sink where cookie-dough-making employees are supposed to wash their hands, plus the sink was leaking. Result could be employees have a hard time washing their hands, slack off, then track contaminants into production rooms after having stood in contaminated water.
5. Water, insulation material and particles of wood, dust, lint and you name it have potentially contaminated Nestle’s cookie dough in the past.
You have to take the Wayback Machine way back to Sept. 11-12, 2006 to find a thorough government inspection of the Danville plant. Useful information and clues abound, so if you’d care to see the whole thing, along with a complete government inspection a year earlier, here they are.
And here are a few of the highlights:
→ Three live ant-like insects were observed on a ledge along the W wall of the powdered sugar dump station in the cookie dough manufacturing area.
→ Dirty stanless steel equipment and utensils were observed in a bin which was identified as “clean” in the cookie dough cleaning area.
→ Water or other clear liquid was observed dripping from an overhead line in the liquid egg receiving bay.
→ The knock-off arm for the check weigher was improperly timed or otherwise not functioning properly to remove trays of cookie dough on line ten…
The firm refused to provide the following:
→ Percent of products which move in interstate commerce
→ Review of complaint log
→ Use of camera
→ Review of pest control records
→ Review of HACCP program
→ Information on environmental testing program.Flour and sugar silos are cleaned on a rotating bases every 4 to 6 weeks from approximately April through November.
Clue: By this time, readers should be able to spot them for themselves, eh?
OK, at this point let’s just have a show of hands: How many think the FDA has held giant corporate powerhouse Nestle to the kind of inspection and investigatory standards necessary to protect the current and future health of the American eating public. Anybody? Anyone at all?
Nestle tells ABC it has literally taken its production line apart, cleaned it bit by bit and put it back together, and is ramping up gradual Toll House cookie dough production again. Since by company policy no inspectors will be allowed to provide photographic evidence that this is so, I guess we’ll just have to take the company’s word for it.
Personally, I believe this whole episode beautifully illustrates the benefits of making your own cookies from scratch.
