SunBurst still closed after report of Listeria
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on October 14, 2014 1:46 PM
SunBurst Foods remains closed to resolve issues that arose over the weekend with products that tested positive for Listeria, local health officials said today.
The business issued a voluntary recall notice Sunday for several products that might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Company officials have not spoken publicly about the situation except through the press release.
The communicable disease section of the Wayne County Health Department was not notified about the concerns, since there have been no reports of anyone coming down with illness at this point.
It does, however, indirectly fall under the domain of environmental health, which inspects restaurants and food vendors.
"We got an email, like everyone else. We don't inspect them or do anything with SunBurst. It's all done through the Department of Agriculture," said Kevin Whitley, environmental health director. "We tried to make a visit there (Monday) to see what they were doing with the retail products. They were completely closed down. The lights were out.
"We couldn't even get an answer to the phone calls."
Shane Smith, food and lodging supervisor, said his staff does inspect the catering part of the facility but not the processing line of the business.
Smith said he had made contact with the Department of Agriculture late Monday afternoon and was able to learn more details about the company, which ships "large quantities" of food to other states, primarily in the Southeast.
"What they reported to me was that (SunBurst) had shipped some food to a naval base in Portsmouth, Va. It was randomly sampled and came back positive for Listeria," he said. "Once that was done SunBurst contacted the Department of Agriculture.
"(SunBurst) did a voluntary recall. They're in the process of cleaning and sanitizing, and are still waiting on other samples to come back. It was just a random environmental sample. As of right now, they have not had any positive diagnosis as far as anyone getting sick."
Smith also confirmed that the business is not currently open.
"As far as we know they're voluntarily closed to the public," he said this morning. "I'm sure they're sampling everything before they open back up."
The News-Argus attempted to contact SunBurst this morning for comment, but the person answering the phone hung up.
It was also reported that employees arrived to work this morning to find the doors locked and they were sent home.
The recall was for sandwich, fruit and snack products sold under several labels that are sold in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. Labels involved include Fresh Bites, River Edge Farms, CFW, Southern Zest, CJ's Vending, Binford Street Deli, Middle George Vendors, Roanoke Foods, Select Foods and Jesse Jones (double chili hot dogs).
Listeria primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems.