Vita Food Products Inc - Chicago, Illinois

Kenneth S.

While we've always enjoyed your Wild Herring in Wine Sauce, my wife and I are noticing a lot more onions in each jar now, and less herring. Please change the ratio back to your original version. After all, this is not supposed to be "Onions and Wild Herring in Wine Sauce"

Michael

I am sharing this because I think this points to both public food safety and transparency, as we consumers seek clean and healthy foods for ourselves and our families.

I am very health conscious and asked my wife to buy some pickled herring as an alternative to red meat protein. So, she bought some from the grocery store. The brand was Vita Foods, Inc. and it is pickled in wine sauce. Well, I tasted it, and immediately, it seemed to me to have not been cooked. To me, it seemed like it was processed raw and pickled only. In most cases, I would think that is fine, but I had concerns because herring supposedly has a hard to kill parasite (anisakis sp. larvae) in it (per FDA & CDC). So, I microwaved the portion that I was going to eat.

My wife, concerned about my health and the safety of the Vita Foods herring, emailed the company to open up a transparent dialog about whether or not they (Vita Foods) took steps to make this food safe and free of parasites. They quickly responded with the following:

"Good Morning
Thank you for taking the time to reach out to Vita Foods.

In regard to your question, I am sorry but as a company policy we do not disclose any of internal processes."

Because of the secretive way they are responding, we don't feel safe putting their product in our bodies. Parasites can be a very serious problem and many times they can cause harm for years without the host even realizing that they have a parasitic infection (Anisakiasis). All we wanted to know is whether or not they were taking proper precautions to turn out a safe, clean product, and they brushed us off.

Needless to say, we trashed the almost full jar of herring, and we are seeking a company that is more transparent with customers who eat the food they make. Customer product safety inquiries are a serious matter and should not be taken lightly.

Edie A.

Giving only two stars for the inconvenience and poor packaging style. It's impossible to identify and remove individual slices of smoked salmon. Wild lox product is wonderful, but packaging is frustrating

Karen N.

The worst Wild Nova Salmon I've ever had. After years of buying Vita products, I am done. Attempts to reach Customer Service, or to get someone to call me back have been futile. How does a company stay in business with such poor quality products and an utter lack of interest in customer response?

Dan K.

I wish I could give Vita Herring in their sour cream a minus 5 stars b/c I would if I could. I asked my wife to get the 'herring' that our supermarket sells b/c our local grocer, although very good and what I remember this to be from childhood (I'm 60), was a little pricy. She came home with Vita brand. It was nothing more than fish paste and onions. Wheres the fish? The other supplier had 3/8" x 2" x 2" pieces all throughout the jar...yours was nothing more than mangled tiny scraps of dog food and for $5.25 a jar...pathetic. We'll NEVER buy anything related to your company again.

Helen P.

Quality of herring = very good . but every jar is much too sweet. People don 't eat that way anymore. Consumers = more knowledgable these days.
Do you have any herring w/o all that added sugar?

Sam K.

Very nice people in the shipping and receiving department. Quick offloading. Not hard to get to ( Besides going through downtown if your coming from the south ) 290 west to Oakley/Western. Right on Western, go down half a mile and make a right on Lake St. ( Under the rail road tracks ). Shipping is off of Lake ST and receiving is off of Levitt and Lake.

Otto

They were a much better company when they were in the Bronx New York