UPDATE: ‘The chips are safe,’ says embattled owner of Charley’s Chips

WYOMING, MI -- A West Michigan brand of popular chips and salsa were being made in an unsanitary, former fast food joint that served as the owner’s home, a dog’s living space and a place to smoke cigarettes indoors, state inspectors allege.

Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development officials claim Charley’s Chips was manufacturing its chips, salsas and seasonings out of the former Burger George in Wyoming under the radar without a state license or inspection.

Last week, they ordered the owner, Jim Raredon, to stop all production until his operations regain compliance. On Wednesday, May 29, they publicly warned consumers not to eat the products and advised all retailers to stop selling them.

Raredon could not be reached for comment.

The Charley’s Chips line is carried by a number of grocery stores in West Michigan, and MDARD suspects they’re carried around the state as well. It was launched in 2012.

MDARD inspectors found out May 22 that Raredon was living in the former Burger George, 3648 Division Ave. S, as well as manufacturing and selling his products there without a license or inspection from the state.

Inside the roughly 1,000-square-foot building, inspectors found bedding, clothes, ash trays, cigarette butts and dog hair, toys and food bowls, according to MDARD spokesperson Jennifer Holton.

Some of the food equipment was “laden” with residue from previous use, she said. Other food processing equipment was makeshift, utilizing chicken wire and PVC pipe.

“Things like dog hair, cigarette butts, etc., are not permitted to be in the same place where food is manufactured,” Holton said. “We take this incredibly seriously … We needed to take immediate action to ensure this product didn’t have further distribution and was taken off of food shelves.”

The goal of MDARD’s inspections and licensing, she said, is to protect public health and the integrity of the food supply.

The Grand Rapids Press/MLive profiled Raredon and his business journey in 2014.

It’s unclear how long Raredon was making products there, but he hasn’t held a valid operating license with the state since May 2018, according to Holton.

The state license he held that expired in May 2018 was for his former location, dubbed “The Chip Palace," at 3155 Madison St. SE. Holton said it’s believed he was producing there until February of this year.

She was unable to confirm the last time that location was inspected by MDARD.

The “unsanitary” conditions at the Division address were discovered after inspectors first went to another Charley’s Chips location, 4165 Chicago Drive SW, which Holton said was more of a storefront than a production site. The license displayed there expired in April 2016.

The same day, May 21, they followed up with an inspection of his last known production site, The Chip Palace. The building owner told them Charley’s Chips hadn’t operated there since February.

After an internet search, they found the Burger George location and visited it the following day. They seized all the products there once they saw the conditions, and then returned to the Chicago Drive address to seize the products there as well, Holton said.

Holton said MDARD followed up a year after the May 2018 license lapsed because it was a lower risk facility on their inspection rotation timetable.

She said it’s the responsibility of the business owner to renew their license, which is an annual process. A license renewal does not require an updated inspection, she said.