Inspection reports from a Nestle USA cookie dough factory released Friday show the company refused several times to provide Food and Drug Administration inspectors with complaint logs, pest-control records and other information.
The records, which date back to 2004, were made public after Nestle's Toll House refrigerated, prepackaged cookie dough was discovered to be the likely culprit in an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 69 people in 29 states, according to the latest estimates from the federal Centers for Disease Control. The CDC is investigating the outbreak along with the FDA.
Nestle voluntarily recalled all Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products made at the Danville, Va., factory late last week after the FDA informed the company it suspected consumers may have been exposed to E. coli bacteria after eating the dough raw.
According to the reports released by the FDA, the company refused to allow FDA investigators access to certain documents in at least 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Nestle refused FDA information, reports show
