A Rockland kosher food manufacturer is suing its insurer to cover the costs of contaminated tuna salad it withdrew from the market.
Golden Taste Inc., of Spring Valley, is demanding $250,000 from Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Co., in a complaint filed Jan. 3 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
Golden Taste, founded by Rafuel Perlmutter in 1996, makes, distributes and sells salads, dips, spreads, herring, pickled products and appetizers, according to its website.
Last March, it shipped Healthy Tuna Deluxe tuna fish salad to Costco.
Costco notified Golden Taste that an organic growth was visible on the tuna salad, according to the complaint. The retailer withdrew all products with sell-by dates from March 23 through April 18, destroyed the products and refused to accept new shipments.
Certified Laboratories, of Melville, tested the tuna salad for Golden Taste and confirmed the presence of Candida lipolytica and several species of Aspergillus and Penicillium.
Most species of the fungi are common and present no threat to humans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but can cause serious illnesses in people with weakened immune systems.
Comprehensive Food Safety, of Westwood, New Jersey, and Focuss Group, of Monsey, examined the lab report for Golden Taste, according to the complaint, and concluded that the “product is not fit for human consumption.”
Golden Taste claims it lost more than $300,000 from the recall and destruction of defective products.
The company says its policy with Westchester Surplus Lines, based in Philadelphia and affiliated with Chubb Insurance Group, includes coverage up to $250,000 for withdrawal or recall of adulterated products.
But the insurer denied a claim for reimbursement, according to the complaint, disputing whether the amounts of mold found on the tuna salad were significant enough to be dangerous to humans and to trigger coverage.
Golden Taste accused the insurer of breach of contract.
The complaint does not disclose how many containers of Healthy Tuna Deluxe were destroyed or recalled; whether any other retailers received shipments of contaminated product; the source of the molds and remediation efforts; or whether the Food and Drug Administration was notified.
In 2005, according to FDA records, New York State food inspectors detected Listeria monocytogenes in Golden Taste Tuna Deluxe samples. The product was recalled and no illnesses were reported.
The current complaint was originally filed in Rockland Supreme Court on Nov. 23 and was moved to federal court by the insurance company. Westchester Surplus”™ attorney, Vincent Passarelli, did not respond to an email asking for his client”™s side of the story.
Golden Taste is represented by Manhattan attorney Noah J. Fried.
