When FDA inspectors visited Zoka Coffee Company’s roastery in April, they found a large number of what inspectors call “REPs” near coffee processing, including on the burlap bags holding raw beans. REP is an abbreviation for “rodent excreta pellets.” During one inspection visit, the FDA observed a live rat, and at another time, “an employee was observed sneezing directly into his bare hand, then touching the inside of a plastic bag in which tea was being emptied into without previously washing their hands.” Read more in the FDA’s Sept. 9 Zoka Coffee FDA Warning Letter.

I will attempt to contact Zoka for their response.