Citing unsanitary conditions, feds file complaint against Wichita food company

A Wichita business and two of its officials are accused of making food in unsafe conditions, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.

A civil complaint to stop the distribution of adulterated food was filed in federal court against Native American Enterprises LLC; its vice president and part-owner, William N. McGreevy; and production manager Robert C. Conner, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

The defendants “have an extensive history of operating under insanitary conditions,” the court document says.

McGreevy – who owns 49 percent of the business and is responsible for daily operations – said: “We have not put out any food that is contaminated to the public, which is why the FDA is not requiring a recall. … I have no concerns that anything we are doing or have done is putting anybody in the public at risk. We disagree with the premise of the petition and are working with the attorney for the government to resolve any disagreements.

“I’m definitely all about following the rules and protecting the customers,” McGreevy said in a phone interview with The Eagle late Monday afternoon.

Nicole Navas, a DOJ spokeswoman, said in an email: “Nothing about the filing of the government’s complaint stops the defendants from manufacturing and/or distributing their product to the public right now. The government is seeking an injunction, but that has not yet been granted.”

A company advertisement says the fourth-generation business began in 1930 as a meat processor in downtown Wichita and that it supplies the U.S. military, restaurants, hotels and institutions with quality meats and ready-to-eat products. McGreevy said his business is one of few Native American manufacturers in the nation that provide products to the military and governmental agencies. He typically employs 15 to 20 people, but the number can rise to 30 when the business is working on a contract.

The complaint focuses on ready-to-eat refried beans and sauces. Navas, the DOJ spokeswoman, wouldn’t say where the beans and sauces are sold on the retail level. McGreevy said his company’s beans and sauces don’t go to the military.

The complaint said that the ready-to-eat refried beans and sauces are “adulterated in that they have been prepared, packed and/or held under … conditions whereby the food may have become contaminated with filth or have been rendered injurious to health.”

The defendants’ products go to distributors in Missouri and Kentucky.

The conditions at the plant include the presence of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, and unsafe employee practices, the statement said. The Listeria monocytogenes bacterium lives in soil and moist environments and is a leading cause of death caused by foodborne illness, the complaint said.

The complaint was filed at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

McGreevy said he thinks the FDA is treating his business more strictly because it is a smaller enterprise.

The FDA most recently inspected NAE’s facility at 230 N. West St. between Aug. 5 and Aug. 20, 2015, and collected environmental samples and saw many insanitary practices, the complaint said. The problems included “the defendants’ failure to manufacture and package food under conditions necessary to minimize microorganism growth, take necessary precautions to protect against contamination and maintain buildings in good repair.”

The FDA observed rain water leaking through the roof into a room “directly above where NAE employees packaged RTE refried beans.” The inspection also found cracks and holes in walls and flooring that let debris collect and that prevent proper cleaning.

Employees also moved “dirty equipment between the ‘raw room,’ where meat is processed,” and the room where refried beans are packaged, the complaint says.

The business responded to the FDA’s concerns in September, but the response failed to show enough steps to prevent contamination risks, the document says.

Before the 2015 inspection, the FDA inspected NAE’s facility twice in 2014 and found Listeria.

The inspection also found “a failure to maintain equipment in an acceptable condition through appropriate cleaning and sanitizing.”

The FDA did its initial inspection in 2013 after the U.S. Department of Agriculture tested the business’s ready-to-eat taco meat filling and found Listeria in five of 85 subsamples tested. McGreevy said the USDA has an inspector in his business daily and that it regulates the vast majority of his products.

The business got its first FDA warning letter in August 2013.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Citing unsanitary conditions, feds file complaint against Wichita food company."