Castleberry's Food Company - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Castleberry's Food Company was an Augusta, Georgia-based canned food company founded in the 1920s by Clement Stewart Castleberry with the help of his father Clement Lamar Castleberry and closed permanently in March 2008 by the United States Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

.

The company grew from a payroll of two to over 400 workers at its peak. Castleberry's was sold by the Castleberry Family in 1991 to Robert Kirby. Kirby later sold the company to Conor's Brother's foods, parent company of Bumble Bee Foods of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Due to problems with quality control

Quality control

Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...

, the brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

experienced problems when it shipped products that were under-processed, resulting in several cases of botulism

Botulism

Botulism also known as botulinus intoxication is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by botulinum toxin which is metabolic waste produced under anaerobic conditions by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and affecting a wide range of mammals, birds and fish...

and subsequent widespread recall

Product recall

A product recall is a request to return to the maker a batch or an entire production run of a product, usually due to the discovery of safety issues. The recall is an effort to limit liability for corporate negligence and to improve or avoid damage to publicity...

, and the cessation of production at their food processing plant.

Canned chili sauce

Beginning in June 2007, eight people contracted botulism

Botulism

due to the consumption of "Hot Dog Chili Sauce" and other products manufactured by the Castleberry's Food Company plant in Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...

, which were under-processed, resulting in the production of botulinum toxin

Botulinum toxin

Botulinum toxin is a protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and is considered the most powerful neurotoxin ever discovered. Botulinum toxin causes Botulism poisoning, a serious and life-threatening illness in humans and animals...

within the cans. At that time, the Castleberry's plant was owned and operated by Bumble Bee. The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...

attributed the food poisoning to Castleberry's Food Company's use of a defective canning process which was inadequate to destroy spores of clostridium botulinum

Clostridium botulinum

Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium that produces several toxins. The best known are its neurotoxins, subdivided in types A-G, that cause the flaccid muscular paralysis seen in botulism. It is also the main paralytic agent in botox. C. botulinum is an anaerobic...

bacteria, thereby enabling the bacteria to produce botulinum toxin

Botulinum toxin

as the products aged. An FDA investigation later revealed that the problem arose from the use of canners which "had broken alarms, a leaky valve and an inaccurate temperature device." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) advised consumers to dispose of foods recalled due to the food poisoning incidents in the following manner:

Do not open or puncture any unopened can of the recalled product ... Dispose of food that may be contaminated by placing in a sealable bag, wrapping another plastic bag around the sealable bag, and then taping tightly. Place bags in a trash receptacle for non-recyclable trash outside the home and out of reach of humans and pets. Do not discard the food in a sink, garbage disposal, or toilet. Avoid splashing and contact with the skin. Wear rubber or latex gloves when handling open containers of food that you think may be contaminated. Wash hands with soap and running water for at least 2 minutes after handling food or containers that may be contaminated.

In total, 14 people in seven states (Texas – 4, Ohio – 3, Indiana – 2, Hawaii – 2, Georgia – 1, New Mexico – 1, California – 1) contracted botulism poisoning from Castleberry's chili products, under three different brands.

Temporary recommencement of food manufacturing

Following authorization by the FDA and USDA

United States Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...

, Castleberry's Food Company restarted operations at its canning plant in September 2007, producing products which carried substantially different labeling and UPC

Universal Product Code

The Universal Product Code is a barcode symbology , that is widely used in North America, and in countries including the UK, Australia, and New Zealand for tracking trade items in stores. Its most common form, the UPC-A, consists of 12 numerical digits, which are uniquely assigned to each trade item...

s than those printed on cans of recalled food. Listed amongst the frequently asked questions

FAQ

Frequently asked questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. "FAQ" is usually pronounced as an initialism rather than an acronym, but an acronym form does exist. Since the acronym FAQ originated in textual...

on the Castleberry's Food Company Web site from November 2007 was the following query: "How do I know Castleberry's Food products are safe to eat?" However, in March 2008, the canning plant was shuttered permanently when the FDA revoked the "temporary emergency operating permit" that was allowing production to continue.

Litigation

In July 2008, Anne Marie Caffrey filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Castleberry's Food Company and other defendants alleged to have distributed Castleberry's poisoned food products, which alleges that Christopher Caffrey died due to paralysis resulting from ingestion of botulinum toxin

Botulinum toxin

contained in food produced by Castleberry's. The lawsuit further alleges that Christopher Caffrey suffered a horribly slow and painful death:

On August 1, 2007, despite the ventilator, Mr. Caffrey experienced respiratory failure. As the effects of the botulism poison spread from his head to his feet, Mr. Caffrey became blind and lost the ability to move any part of his body except his big toe. On August 17, 2007, Chris was transferred to Kindred Care Hospital to receive long term care. His condition worsened a couple of weeks later and he was transferred back to Presbyterian. Chris continued to suffer while his body struggled to fight off the toxin in his body. He had a fever, was paralyzed in most of his body, and required several machines to keep him alive. On September 9, 2007, after six weeks of intense pain and suffering, Chris Caffrey died in the hospital of the effects of botulism poisoning.

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