FDA 483 OBSERVATION · #202 OF 1,923 MOST-CITED

Food contact surface sanitary inspection and maintenance

FDA cited this observation 145 times across 127 firms in recent inspections. Below: how it breaks down by program area and fiscal year, and real examples of how FDA worded it on Form FDA 483.

What this grouping is not

An observation-type page groups FDA’s published citation records. The grouping, the compliance steps and the root causes are SPEQ synthesis, not an FDA classification of any citation, and a count measures what FDA published rather than risk.

BY PROGRAM AREA
Foods145
BY FISCAL YEAR
FY202622
FY202534
FY202428
FY202339
FY202210
FY20211
FY20203
FY20193
FY20185

What this observation is associated with

Firms cited for this observation also appear in FDA compliance actions — warning letters, injunctions, or seizures — at 1.4× the rate of the average FDA-cited firm (11.0% vs 7.8%), across 127 FEI-matched firms.

This is an association, not causation, and reflects co-occurrence in FDA's records — not a claim that the observation caused or preceded the action.

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How FDA worded it — real examples

You did not inspect, maintain, clean and sanitize food contact surfaces as frequently as necessary to protect against the contamination of produce.

Tanners Orchard, Ltd · Speer, Illinois · Foods · 2026-08-04

You did not clean and sanitize food contact surfaces as frequently as necessary to protect against the contamination of produce.

Sinn Farms Inc · Silverton, Oregon · Foods · 2026-07-29

You did not clean and sanitize food contact surfaces as frequently as necessary to protect against the contamination of produce.

Aurora Farms LLC · Aurora, Oregon · Foods · 2026-07-27

You did not clean and sanitize food contact surfaces as frequently as necessary to protect against the contamination of produce.

Ratto Farms, LLC · Aurora, Oregon · Foods · 2026-07-22

You did not clean and sanitize food contact surfaces as frequently as necessary to protect against the contamination of produce.

PRODUCTOS AGRARIOS LOPEZ CASTRO · Ciudad Real · Foods · 2026-06-25

You did not maintain food contact surfaces as frequently as necessary to protect against the contamination of produce.

Pear Garden Produce, LLC · Los Angeles, California · Foods · 2026-06-24

Related SPEQ references

Where to read the requirements behind this observation area on SPEQ. These are SPEQ's topic and audience pages — not an FDA classification of the citation.

Contamination control →Food industry →

Examples are a representative sample of FDA's published inspection observations. Open the 483 observation explorer →