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Bumble Bee Tuna Plant Worker Cooked to Death in ‘Steamer Machine’

Oct. 13, 2012 3:30pm Madeleine Morgenstern

Image source: Whittier Daily News

A 62-year-old seafood plant worker was cooked to death in an industrial accident in Southern California, authorities said Friday.

The Whittier Daily News reported that the worker, identified as Jose Melena, had been a six-year employee of Bumble Bee Foods in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. The incident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday, police said.

Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said initial findings indicated “he was fatally injured when he was cooked in an oven.” It was unclear how precisely the man ended up in the industrial cooking device, described as a “steamer machine.”

The state agency has launched an investigation; officials are calling it an accident, according to the Daily News.

“This is a horrendous tragedy,” Monterroza said.

Bumble Bee Foods Vice President of Human Resources Pat Menke expressed condolences to Melena’s family. Operations at the processing plant are on hold until Monday, according to the Associated Press.

Monterroza said a formal investigation would take about six months and include site visits and extensive interviews.

“Once all of the facts are gathered, at that point, a determination will be made if California health and safety regulations were violated,” she said.

Any violations would result in civil penalties, the Daily News reported; the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will determine whether any criminal charges are appropriate.

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Comments (114)

Cptk41
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:34pm
I was going to make tuna casserole tonight…suddenly lost my appetite..:(

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- mrspeedwagon
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 12:25pm
  Tuna never tasted as good since they went “dolphin free” but hmmm, this just might add a little of that lost “tangy taste” little dab of “illegal ailian”
- Gumbercules
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 3:31pm
  I knew there was something ‘fishy’ about the way my canned tuna tasted. . .
  
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- The Giver
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 6:03pm
  @MRSSPEEDWAGON, so you think anyone with a Spanish name is an illegal alien? You don’t get out much do you? Maybe I’ll ASSUME you’re just ignorant, not evil.
  
  Report this comment
face.chewer
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:34pm
He had just baited his hook and was about to cast into the vat to catch a fish for his family when his foot slipped, he fell in and the lid automatically closed.

His last words were, “Jesus! It’s like a sauna in here.”
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- ImaCountess
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:59pm
  Not funny.
  
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- pissantno.10
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 5:02pm
  i thought it was, wont be buying any tuna for awhile though
  
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- Psychosis
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 6:02pm
  HE SHOULD SUE OSHA FOR RAISING THE HEIGHT OF THE SAFETY RAILING
  
  discriminatory against short spanish people
- docfix
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 7:33pm
  wow… you’re a real RICHARD HEAD!
  
  Report this comment
- hidden_lion
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 9:06pm
  Probably wanted out of the union, or he forgot to pay the drug cartel.
- JimmyP
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 9:34pm
  Dude,
  
  The dud died.
  It musta been awful.
  He’s got a family.
  
  STOP the joking and pray for this soul and his fam!
  
  Report this comment
- gs425
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 9:10am
  A sauna is dry hear moron.
  
  Report this comment
- gs425
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 9:12am
  A Sauna is dry heat knucklehead.
  
  Report this comment
- BudSpencer
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 9:26am
  FACE.CHEWER
  I hope that one day you grow up to be a man because men don’t respond to tragedies in this manner. Only boys do, because boys see life as fantasy in a video game. this man had a family, he had kids. Would you have responded to this story with such ignorance and disdain for the loss of an innocent human life if it would have been your father or grand dad? Hang in there and take care of yourself so when you reach the age of 35 you will realize how much time you wasted in childhood.
  
  Report this comment
- Gumbercules
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 3:34pm
  @BUDSPENCER
  First of all, where does it say he has kids? Second, the dude was 63, so chances are his kids are older and have moved out of the house and don’t depend on his income for their well-being. Lastly, lighten up!
  
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BetterInformed
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:29pm
Heart attack.

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- Walkabout
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 5:57pm
  I think you might be right. Or possibly a slip & fall (hard to imagine that given safety railing, but I suppose possible). Or someone pushed him.
  
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LameLiberals
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:26pm
What a horrible way to die. Almost as bad as that poor Lawton Oklahoma employee a few years ago who fell into a meat grinder.

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- SgtB
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 8:15pm
  I still don’t buy their hotdogs.
  
  Report this comment
- TulsaYeeHaw
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 11:28am
  Superior Linen has a plant in Tulsa. They had a new employee a couple years ago. The guy hadn’t been on the job long at all (may have been first day) and he blatantly violated all of the safety protocols while fixing a damaged lift, and it collapsed on him. When asked why two employees watching didn’t stop him, both employees stated something like “I’m not going in there and dragging him out and have that fall on me too.” Thank God OSHA wasn’t a bunch of jack-asses. They reviewed the videos, talked to the employees, management was probably going to let the guy go, and determined that Superior Linen wasn’t really in violation of anything. Except hiring a fool. Sometimes sh1t happens, and sometimes it’s tragic. Sometimes stupid people act stupid and sh1t happens because of it was invited.
  
  Having said that, I don’t know what happened in California. Could have been a freak accident, could have been company negligence, murder, some medical condition that caused him to fall, etc. My prayers with his family and the people of the plant he worked at. The only reason I know what happened at Superior Linen is I know people who work there.
  
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ellietoo
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:19pm
That is just awful. What a way to die! No excuse for that kind of neglect.

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blanco5
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:19pm
“A determination will be made if California health and safety regulations were violated,” she said.” You can’t move a finger without kalifornia’s gov regulations and laws. A horrible death for sure!

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:09pm
God be with his famiy in their time of loss.

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powedj
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:53pm
It’s George Bush’s fault.

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- blackyb
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 5:34pm
  Most likely.
  
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DADDYOF4PLUS1
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:52pm
Guys don’t worry about the “contamination” aspects of this tragedy. The tuna is cooked after it is canned, sealed, put on roller caddys and then steamed. Think about this though.Would it be possible to die more horribly? Absolutely terrible.

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- db321
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:13pm
  How do you think the tuna feels.
  
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- statutoryape
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:24pm
  @ Dude with bald eagle pic, Tuna don’t feel pain like us; Hell, there’s evidence that they don’t feel pain (suffering) at all.
  
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- crackerone
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:55pm
  I feel much better MacDaddy for your explanation, but if I find parts of Jose’s nametag in my can of tuna, I won’t be happy.
  
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- Walkabout
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 6:02pm
  I would think anything with nerve cells feels pain. They might not feel anguish (future pain or disappointment), if they can’t think about the future.
  
  But why argue, once they figure out what consciousness is & how it come into being, we’ll know. there won’t be much arguement after that. Except that Planned Parenthood will still be trying to kill babies by the millions whether they are conscious or not.
  
  Report this comment
- statutoryape
  Posted on October 14, 2012 at 1:08am
  walkabout…i was talking about fish and you switched it to aborting fetuses. aside, from us evolving from fish, not sure what you’re trying to say. no animal is self aware. applying human emotions to animals is what created PETA.
  
  Report this comment
jackact
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:50pm
Chicken of the plant?

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- statutoryape
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:26pm
  lol, Jackact, you made my day. I think that would be an awesome inscription on his tombstone.
  
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- hidden_lion
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 9:09pm
  fish tacos….
  
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MaleneSBrown
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:49pm
What an awful way to die! I think that has to be one of the worst.

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Lilybean
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:48pm
My heart goes out to his family. This is so sad.

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chucksue351
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:47pm
isn’t this nancy pelosi’s company

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:58pm
  I believe that’s the “Sorry Charlie” tuna, and they do the canning in Somoa. You know, where she had the minimum wage increased except there.
  
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- repairsea
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 11:05pm
  She owns a tuna factory? Was this after she used her political power to destroy the Samoan’s tuna industry and their ability to send their children to college? Now they are on welfare and live below poverty level.
  
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ThePostman
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:47pm
How sad. It seems almost impossible that this was an accident and not a suicide. But what a way to kill oneself, that seems just as impossible.

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- eaglescout1998
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:59pm
  Could be murder….
  
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- pissantno.10
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 5:05pm
  was he in the muslem movie hmmmm
  
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JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:45pm
OMG!!! Terrible way to go! God bless his soul and may God comfort his family in their hours of grief.

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N37BU6
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:43pm
Horrific…

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dickdastardly
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:43pm
“We’re gathering the facts…” Sounds like a standard Waffle House press release…is Jay Carney moonlighting?

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BODYBAG
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:43pm
Sorry Charlie.
Dont swear off Tuna. Its cooked after its canned too.
http://www.starkist.com/faq/how-canned-tuna-made

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- ThePostman
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:49pm
  My doctor has me on fish oil pills. Uhhhgg. They are going to be a lot harder to swallow now.
  
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- CatB
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 4:32pm
  What about the pouches?
  
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rockymtngal
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:42pm
Thanks for sharing a morbid story.

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Southerner01
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:40pm
Soylent Green?

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DEMOCRATS.ARE.EVIL
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:38pm
Hmmmmm….there’s something fishy about this story.

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JL320
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:37pm
I wonder how much tuna got processed before they found him.

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The-Monk
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:37pm
“Any violations would result in civil penalties…”

If so, I hope the money goes to the family and not the City or State coffers.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:43pm
  Hi MONK, I agree, but we both really know better.
  
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HKS
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:34pm
I really didn’t needs that, I’ll never eat tuna again.

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- Gorp
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:55pm
  My wife won’t eat rice because I once told her it looks like Maggots.
  
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iahp_mom
Posted on October 13, 2012 at 3:33pm
I could have lived a happy life not knowing that.

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- idarusskie
  Posted on October 13, 2012 at 5:57pm
  you do not know that he may have die before he fell in. hopefully, he was knocked out at least
  
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