No Infestation Found at Instant-Soup Plant
Los Angeles County health inspectors, concluding what a spokesman called a meticulous investigation, have found no evidence of rodent infestation at Nissin Foods, a company being sued by a Canyon Country couple who claim they found part of a rodent in one of the company’s products.
Sanitary conditions at the Nissin Foods plant in Gardena were average, although the company was ordered to clean some equipment which had signs of insect infestation, said Wallace Shishido, head of food and milk inspection for the county Department of Health Services.
Inspectors from the county and U.S. Food and Drug Administration spent several days investigating the company after a Boyle Heights family claimed last month that they found larvae inside a Cup O’Noodles, Shishido said.
Coincidentally, the inspection was completed Wednesday, a day after Hughes Markets removed all Nissin products from its shelves after learning of the lawsuit filed by Robert and Sharon Mathie. The chain is replacing the merchandise with fresh supplies from Nissin.
The Mathies claimed in a lawsuit filed last Friday that Sharon Mathie discovered part of a rat Jan. 20 while eating a Cup O’Noodles she purchased at a Hughes Market in Canyon Country. Her husband did not eat the soup.
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