Amy's Kitchen has been fined $25,000 by regulators for health and safety violations at the Santa Rosa factory.

Amy’s Kitchen, a Petaluma-based frozen food company, has been fined $25,000 by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health for health and safety violations; three of the violations at the Santa Rosa factory were considered “serious” due to the level of potential risk for workers, according to KQED.

The most hazardous infraction was “unsecured guards in dough-flattening conveyors,” KQED reported. This type of violation can cause severe injury, including amputation or death, if an employee's hands or clothes get caught in the unguarded conveyor belt. 

The inspections were prompted by employees complaining of harsh working conditions in January. They were conducted by Cal/OSHA in late January, but the fine was not revealed until late July. According to retired Cal/OSHA inspector Garrett Brown, who was contacted by KQED to review the violations, the Santa Rosa facility was “definitely not a safe workplace.”

“These are real safety hazards which can have real adverse consequences on people’s health and safety,” Brown said.

Between 2014 and 2019, Amy’s Kitchen was fined a total of $120,000 by Cal/OSHA for similar violations at the Santa Rosa factory. In one incident, an employee’s finger was amputated while packaging food.

Amy’s Kitchen did not respond to a request for comment from SFGATE, but Steve Myers, senior manager of risk and safety for Amy’s Kitchen, told KQED, “I’m very proud of the safety of our plant, and of course I am disappointed that we got what I would consider technical violations of the code.”

Nico Madrigal-Yankowski is a food reporter for SFGATE. He is a born and bred San Franciscan. Email him tips at nico.madrigal-yankowski@sfgate.com