Inspection Detail

Inspection: 313643215 - Cedarlane Natural Foods, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 12:50 a.m. on April 29, 2011, Employee #1 was working for her employer, a producer of fresh and frozen packaged food for retail and the airline industry. The employer was open 24 hours, with site clean-up conducted from 2:00 a.m. through 7:00 a.m. The production line was producing eggplant parmigiana. In that process, boiled eggplant was manually placed into black retail trays conveyed on a conveyor belt. As the tray moved down the line, other ingredients were added to the tray. At the end of the line, the trays were then sealed and frozen. The process involved use of a Reiser Vemag Robot (Model Number 500; Serial Number 123.1025-1) as a "portioner". This portable machine was equipped with a hopper from which a long pipe was attached. This long pipe was the housing for the positive displacement double screw (auger), which conveyed the material, cheese in this instance, from the hopper to the awaiting "bus" tray. As the cheese was pushed out of the auger, it was "portioned" by the "Guillotine Cut-off", a 4-inch vertical blade that came down over the auger outlet and cut off the desired portion. That portion then dropped down into a waiting bus tray. The portioned cheese was then picked up by hand and was transferred into an adjacent conveyor belt that contained little black trays with portioned boiled eggplants. Apparently, Employee #1 was cleaning in the area and one or more of her fingers were amputated by the machine. Employee #1 was hospitalized. The accident was reported to the Division five hours after it happened. The Division was informed that while there was normally a Plexiglas guard housing attached to the "guillotine cut-off" frame, that housing was broken and had not been reinstalled on that day or on the days prior to the event.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, FOOD PREPARATION, FINGER, GUARD, CLEANING, FOOD PACKAGING MACH, LOCKOUT