Bacteria testing among issues at a Miami bottled water plant that distributes Evian
A Miami bottled water plant that bottles two brands and distributes three others, including Evian, had labels that lied about ingredients and a bottling machine so unsanitary, a state inspector ordered it out of service.
Those violations are the start and the finish of a Jan. 27 Florida Department of Agriculture inspection of Florida Water Delivery, 3341 NW 65th St.
Though the company does business as “Mountain Valley Water,” Mountain Valley Spring Water is the most prominent brand on their website and Evian and Diamond Spring Water are listed among “other products” on the website, Florida Water Delivery director Lee Holtzman says the company actually bottles only Summerhouse Springs and Crystal Hills at the facility.
Agriculture Department inspectors drop by all packaged food sellers, including supermarkets, FedEx/Kinko’s, retail bakeries, food storage facilities, food processors and food distribution facilities. Unlike restaurant inspectors, they can’t shut down an establishment, but they can drop Stop Use Orders on areas and equipment. Enough of those orders and the business owner might decide it can’t or shouldn’t open.
Inspector Arceli Harvie slapped a Stop Use Order on a “multiservice bottling machine” for the simple reason of it being “unsanitary equipment. Sanitary operations: multiservice water-contact surfaces clean and sanitized.”
The inspection noted that this state inspection was also an FDA contract inspection. Holtzman said Florida Water Delivery corrected the bacterial testing and ozone measuring violations that the FDA had a problem with and they were back bottling by Saturday.
READ MORE: Food ‘encrusted’ from the previous day on equipment at a Kendall Publix
As in the case of the Stop Use Order, what follows comes directly from the visit by Inspector Harvie and an accompanying trainee.
▪ “The Crystal Hills 1-gallon and 5-gallon label states ‘Minerals are added for taste,’ but according to an employee no minerals are added in the process.”
▪ No paper towels or hand sanitizer at the handwashing sink in the water processing area.
▪ Plumbing that doesn’t provide “adequate backflow protection from piping systems that discharge waste water or sewage. ...There is a hose bib outside by the loading area missing a backflow prevention device.”
▪ “The temperature gauge for the 5-gallon bottle sanitizing equipment is not accurate. Inspector used a probe thermometer and the water reached 168 degrees and the equipment gauge marked 160 degrees. Additionally, the rest of the gauges for the same machine are in disrepair.”
▪ “Owner stated reusable 5-gallon water plastic containers are sanitized with ozone water, but there are no procedures in place to test the concentration of ozone to ensure proper sanitizing of the containers.”
▪ The plastic curtains separating the bottling area from the warehouse aren’t “being effective to protect against contamination. Furthermore, the bay door that leads into the warehouse area was observed open throughout the entire inspection. Also, the back screen door in the bottling room area has a notable gap underneath.”
“Protect against Contamination” when inspectors are talking about openings to the outside means keeping out living beings, such as birds, rodents and other vermin. None were noted on the inspection.
▪ “There are no records for maintenance of equipment, cleaning of filters, inspections of equipment.”
▪ Florida Water Delivery “is not doing weekly bacteriological testing of finished product.”
