Peanut Processor Ignores Salmonella to Save Money
The salmonella outbreak has been responsible for eight deaths and 600 reported salmonella illnesses in 44 states. Some 1,800 products containing Peanut Corporation ingredients have been recalled so far, but manufacturers and retailers have issued 27 new recall announcements just this week.
Alarming details of Peanut Corporation’s operations were revealed in a Congressional Hearing yesterday. Peanut Corporation apparently stopped using a lab that found salmonella contamination in its products too often. Also an E-mail was found from the plant manager to the owner saying that the plant had received a positive salmonella test result on a batch of its peanut products. But after receiving two subsequent negative results on the batch, it was shipped. The company is accused of “lab shopping” or sending the product to a number of labs until one result turned up negative.
FDA inspectors recently found the following at the Peanut Corporation’s plant:
- peanut butter being made on equipment that was not cleaned after salmonella was detected in a batch of peanut butter produced with it in September 2008, nearly five months before.
- water leaking from the ceiling into the cooler that contained peanuts
- salmonella on the floor three feet away from peanuts which also tested positive for salmonella
- mold, improper ventilation, leaking walls, and a cockroach in a bathroom near the production floor
Peanut Corporation owner Stewart Parnell and plant manager Sammy Lightsey appeared before the congressional committee yesterday, but invoked their Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer any questions. Yesterday, Peanut Corporation suspended operations at another of its plants, in Plainview, Texas, while the FDA and state public health inspectors examine its procedures and records. The company also has a facility in Suffolk, Va. A criminal probe into Peanut Corporation’s operations is ongoing.
Although the blame at the hearing was focused on the Peanut Corporation executives, this outbreak also underlines the deficiencies within our nation’s food safety systems. A number of bills have been recently introduced in Congress that would address food safety. One was submitted yesterday by Dingell which would require plant inspections every four years, apply companies’ registration fees to help pay for the government’s food safety efforts, and give the FDA increased authority to recall products.
Currently consumers need to be aware that the investigation is ongoing and the FDA continues to advise that if you don’t know the source of peanuts, or a product containing peanut butter, or peanut paste, don’t eat it. Major-label peanut butter sold in jars, such as Peter Pan, Jif and Smuckers, continue to be considered clear of contamination with salmonella and are considered safe. The FDA posts a daily updated list of recalled products on its website, and it has advised that any product containing peanut butter, such as cookies, crackers, cereal, ice cream, nutrition bars, candies and dog biscuits should not be eaten at the current time until it can be cleared in the ongoing nationwide salmonella outbreak.
Source: The FDA maintains an updated list of all recalled products
Source: “Congressional Panel Turns Harsh Spotlight on Peanut Processor”, MedPage Today, February 11, 2009
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