FDA Warns Boston's ABC Food Corp: Ready-to-Eat Rice Noodles and Tofu Deemed Adulterated After Inspection
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning letter to ABC Food Corp of Boston, Massachusetts, determining that the company's ready-to-eat rice noodles and ready-to-eat tofu were prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions and are adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The letter, addressed to President and Co-Owner Stephanie D. Lin, was issued on October 5, 2026, and posted on the FDA website on November 10.
FDA inspected the company's facility at 99 Atkinson Street in Boston from March 17 through April 7, 2026. The firm manufactures ready-to-eat rice noodles and tofu. Investigators found that the company had never conducted or documented a hazard analysis for any of its foods and had established no preventive controls for several known hazards.
According to the letter, the company's Ho Foon Cut rice noodles are sold in reduced-oxygen packaging, yet the risk of Clostridium botulinum and Bacillus cereus growth and toxin formation during cooling and cold storage was never evaluated or controlled. On March 17, investigators observed several batches of noodles cool only from 76°F to between 62°F and 66°F over roughly five hours in the freezer, and the company does not monitor the temperature of its refrigerated cooler. A key processing step was also found to be unvalidated: the noodle mixture entered at 57°F and exited after 56 seconds at 149°F, with no validation study showing the process destroys vegetative pathogens.
Sanitation failures were also cited: sanitizer was measured at about 100 ppm, contrary to the firm's own written procedure; residual noodles were left on food-contact surfaces after cleaning; and several employees handled ready-to-eat tofu without washing hands or changing gloves after touching floor items. The firm also had no written allergen controls even though its noodle products contain an allergenic ingredient.
The company responded to the inspection findings on April 28, 2026, but FDA said concerns remain and directed the firm to correct the violations. A warning letter is not a recall, and no illnesses linked to the company's products have been reported. (Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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