Cannery
p. 14 · Read in the full issue
closes
THE economy in Samoa, already reel ing from the layoffs of 1000 government workers, took another blow in late February when one of the two big tuna canneries shut down for a week, laying off another 2000 workers.
Some of Samoa Packing’s canned tuna, found in California grocery stores, had small holes in the cans, and tons of the canned product was withdrawn from the market and destroyed. With govern ment inspectors on the scene in Pago Pago, Samoa Packing decided to close down its operations until its manage ment could be assured that the plant was producing a safe product. Once manage ment was satisfied with the cannery’s
operations, it re-opened the plant.
Meanwhile a disagreement broke out between two sets of federal inspectors; the Food and Drug Administration, relying on, among other things, a smelling test, was harder on the packing house than the Fisheries Management people, who use a chemical test of canned tuna. □