A plastic pallet rental service announced recently that random testing of wood pallets used for transporting food in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore areas tested positive for three types of food poisoning bacteria.

Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS) gathered samples from wood pallets located at markets and food retailers and submitted them to an outside scientific laboratory for testing, the company explained in a press release. More than one-third of the randomly selected pallets tested positive for one or more of Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria.

“These tests support our long-held concerns about wood pallets and the risk they present to America’s food supply,” said Bob Moore, chairman and chief executive officer of iGPS. “Consumers need to know that the food they buy may have been sitting on filthy wood pallets containing pathogens. The limited tests we’ve conducted underscore the need for the FDA to conduct a comprehensive investigation and adopt appropriate measures to mitigate the risks presented by wood pallets. Wood pallets open up the food supply to contamination. Federal authorities need to understand how pervasive that threat is.”

IGPS gathered the samples and shipped them in refrigerated packages to the Environmental Systems Service (ESS) laboratory in Bedford, Va., for testing. ESS conducts food-safety testing, including pathogen screening and microbiological analysis for the federal government, corporations and private clients.