The FDA announced today that the Chicago-area based company Triple A Services Inc. has agreed to stop making its ready-to-eat sandwiches and produce after “FDA investigators repeatedly found unsanitary conditions and bacterial contamination in the facility.”

The company and FDA filed what is called a “consent decree” in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois that included the agreement to stop production.

ACcording to the FDA:  “The terms of the decree would also require Triple A to hire a sanitation expert to help establish an effective sanitation program, to comply with FDA regulations and to eliminate Listeria contamination from company facilities.” 

The FDA further stated that Triple A had a “history of operating under unsanitary conditions and Listeria monocytogenes contamination in the processing facility.  FDA took these aggressive actions because Triple A Services continued to violate current good manufacturing practice regulations and allow for conditions that could affect the health of consumers,” said Dara Corrigan, the FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs.

The FDA had issued warning letters to Triple A in April of this year, and in November  2002. The November, 2002 letter described unsanitary conditions; the presence of “bird/insect fecal matter;” and structural defects among other findings.