In an Aug. 2/12 warning letter made public last week,, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told Henry’s Farm In. of Woodford, VA that, “We inspected your soybean sprout and mung-bean sprout manufacturing facility on April 30, May 1-4, and 10, 2012. This inspection was conducted in response to a sample of your of soy bean sprouts collected by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) and that yielded Listeria monocytogenes. In this letter we summarize violations we observed and set forth steps you may take to demonstrate your correction.

During the inspection, FDA collected samples of finished JJBS soybean sprout, P-Natto soybean sprout, and mung-bean sprout as well as environmental samples from your facility and your well water. We notified you with a letter dated June 5, 2012 that our laboratory analysis of sample 752567, which consisted of ten approximately 100-gram sub-samples of JJBS soy bean sprout product, yielded Listeria monocytogenes. We acknowledge your cooperation in recalling your soybean sprouts from the marketplace, ceasing of all production activities, and voluntarily disposing of all in-process products.

Our investigators also documented numerous insanitary conditions and practices that may have contributed directly or indirectly to contamination of your sprouts with pathogens and filth. Accordingly, the soybean sprouts and mung-bean sprouts grown in your facility are adulterated within the meaning of Section 402(a)(4) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) [21 U.S.C. § 342(a)(4)] because they have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health.