“I have no idea how they managed not to get reported to the FDA or why the FDA did not investigate sooner.”
The inspection report said everything was fine. I’m guessing the plant was inspected without the inspector ever setting foot on site.
It seems that the FDA contracted the state to do the routine walk-throughs and compliance inspections. They were just plain inadequate to do the job. The company, it seems only had to fork over their in-house test results when the federal authorities threw a bioterrorism proviso at them. It's easy to take the food supply for granted. I guess that's a foolish thing to do.