The frozen food section it’s popular in grocery stores, but a popular brand that’s added to many shopping carts faces problems on all sides of the aisles. Workers have reported unsafe conditions at one of the company’s factories and one of its products is being recalled.
Reports say a complaint against Amy’s Kitchen was filed with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health in January after workers at the Santa Rosa, California, plant faced an “unforgiving environment” that pushed them beyond the point to be injured, according to nbc news. He says that to keep up with the speed of the lines, company leaders downplayed injuries, documents about injuries were shared and workers were not given opportunities to take breaks, were not given water while working, workers were not allowed to change tasks to avoid repetitive motion-related injuries, and were shamed or asked to provide medical notes if they needed to use the bathroom.
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Amy’s Kitchen personnel director Mike Resch told the news outlet that there is a lot to discuss about the complaint.
“We’re very reasonable in our approach to trying to discern between someone who has that need, who we want to support, on an irregular basis, in which case it wouldn’t be necessary, versus an employee who has a need to visit.” go to the bathroom more often outside of breaks,” he said.
No official decision has been made on the complaint. In a statement to Eat this, not that!Resch says:
“Amy’s is a family business that knows our success is due entirely to the contributions of our more than 2,800 employees.
We never want to see any employee injured on the job and we have invested significantly in new equipment, practices and cultural changes to reduce the risk of injuries on the job. We conduct daily safety walks to look for any deviations from our established practices and to identify future improvements. Just as an indicator of how Amy’s has prioritized the safety of our workers at our Santa Rosa plant, last year the plant posted a safety record that is twice as good as our industry average, with a recordable rate of 2.3 versus the industry standard of 5.
We had an opportunity to review the allegations within the union-signed Cal/OSHA complaint provided to us, which contains misstatements about conditions and processes at Amy’s. After learning about the complaint, we contacted Cal/OSHA. We have a good working relationship with Cal/OSHA and value their knowledge.
We continually seek to learn from our employees and implement additional improvements that support their safety and uphold one of our core principles, ‘take care of each other’.”
But another legal issue Amy is dealing with is a recall of their Frozen Organic Vegan Rice Mac & Cheeze. More than 15,620 boxes of the product sold nationally may contain undeclared traces of milk not declared on the label, a withdrawal notice published by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If someone with a milk allergy or sensitivity consumes the product, they could have a severe or life-threatening allergic reaction.
The problem was discovered by a third party after testing and no other Amy’s Kitchen frozen products were involved. However, Mac & Cheeze could still be in consumers’ freezers, as it has a “best before” date of 10/2023. If you have one, the notice says to dispose of it or return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
For more information on this section of the grocery store, here they are. The best frozen items to buy at Costco right now, says dietitian.
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