China to sell assets of scandal-hit milk company

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Posted on 14th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/14/2009

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court plans to auction off the assets of the Chinese dairy at the heart of a tainted milk scandal that sickened hundreds of thousands of children and was blamed for killing six, reports said Saturday.

Sanlu Group Co. was declared bankrupt by a court in its north China base of Shijiazhuang on Thursday. Its real estate holdings, buildings and equipment will be auctioned March 4, along with its investment rights and interests in three other dairy companies, newspapers and the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Fonterra, a New Zealand farmer-owned cooperative that owns 43 percent of Sanlu, has already written off its $139 million investment. Fonterra was responsible for alerting Chinese authorities about the tainted milk scandal last August.

Sanlu was one of 22 Chinese dairy companies whose products were found to contain high levels of the industrial chemical melamine, which led to the deaths of six babies and caused 294,000 others to suffer urinary problems, according to the government.

At least a dozen lawsuits have been filed against state-owned Sanlu, but they are caught in a legal limbo as courts have neither accepted nor refused the cases — a sign of the scandal’s political sensitivity.

The scandal highlighted a widespread practice among dairy suppliers of watering down milk they bought from farmers and then adding melamine to it to artificially boost its apparent protein levels. The tainted milk was then sold to dairy companies.

Courts have sentenced more than 20 people for adulterating milk or failing to respond to the tainting, including Sanlu’s former general manager and chairwoman Tian Wenhua, who was given a life sentence. Tian, 66, has appealed.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

VA clinic warns of possible contaminant exposure

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Posted on 14th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/14/2009

By BILL POOVEY
Associated Press Writer

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Thousands of patients at a Veterans Administration clinic in Tennessee may have been exposed to the infectious body fluids of other patients when they had colonoscopies in recent years, and now VA medical facilities all over the U.S. are reviewing their own procedures.

A spokesman at the Alvin C. York VA Medical Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., said the clinic is offering free blood tests and medical care to all patients whose records show they had colonoscopies between April, 23, 2003 and Dec. 1, 2008.

Christopher Conklin said in a telephone interview Friday that notification letters were sent this week by registered mail to 6,378 patients of the Murfreesboro facility. He said no related health problems have been reported, and every measure is being taken to assure that affected veterans are screened.

VA officials also said a problem was found with equipment at an ear, nose and throat clinic at the VA medical center in Augusta, Ga., and 1,800 veterans have been notified they may have been exposed to infection there.

One veteran who received notification from the Murfreesboro clinic, Gary Simpson, 57, said, “The fact that it took five years for them to catch a mistake like that — it seems like somebody should have caught an incorrect valve and incorrect cleaning of the equipment during that time.” His wife Janice called the discovery “sickening” and “horrifying.”

Conklin said a valve on equipment used in the colonoscopies was discovered wrongly connected Dec. 1 and the mistake was traced back to April 23, 2003.

A statement from the VA said that in response to the discovery at Murfreesboro and an inspection that found a problem with endoscopic equipment at the VA medical center in Augusta, Ga., all VA medical centers and outpatient clinics are reviewing procedures in a special training program described as a “step-up.”

A VA statement released Monday said 1,800 veterans who were treated in Augusta, Ga., from January through November last year in the ear, nose and throat clinic at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center are being notified “that they may have been exposed to infection because the instrument used in the procedure was improperly disinfected.” The statement described the risk of infection as “extremely small.”

Simpson, a Tennessee Valley Authority retiree who lives in Spring City, received his notice Wednesday and went Thursday to a local doctor for a blood screening. He was awaiting results Friday of tests that included HIV and hepatitis.

Simpson, who served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1974, said he had a colonoscopy at the clinic in Murfreesboro in 2007.

His wife said she was “praying it comes out OK.”

She said the notification letter refers to an incorrect valve and also to “tubing attached to the scope that may not have been properly cleaned between patients.”

“I would like to know if they were using tubing that should have been thrown out,” she said.

A statement released by Conklin said that while the “valve-tube connection does not come in direct contact with a patient, there is a possibility patients may have been exposed to infection.”

“We know this will upset many veterans,” Juan Morales, director of VA Tennessee Valley Health Care System that includes the Murfreesboro clinic, said in the statement. “Both circumstances present a minimal risk of exposure to the veterans who had this procedure. We believe this aggressive approach to notification enforces our commitment to those we serve.”

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Feds mount evidence in salmonella outbreak probe

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Posted on 14th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/14/2009

By GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) — First, federal investigators said Stewart Parnell knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted foods even after internal tests showed they were contaminated. Then they revealed the evidence: e-mails Parnell sent to his employees urging them to ship out the products that authorities say ultimately sickened hundreds and may have caused the deaths of nine.

Federal authorities, who started an investigation last month, have remained tightlipped about possible charges against Parnell. So has the FBI, which raided the company’s Georgia plant about a week ago.

But food safety attorneys say prosecutors have an array of options for what could be one of the Food and Drug Administration’s most high-profile tainted food cases in decades.

“Any time you’ve got interstate commerce, those are the buzz words for federal prosecution,” said Kent Alexander, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta who is now general counsel at Emory University. “And prosecutors can be very creative in alleging schemes involving interstate commerce.”

One tool federal prosecutors could use is the 1938 Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $10,000 if prosecutors prove there’s an intent to “defraud or mislead.”

Prosecutors could also turn to a range of other laws if they are seeking a tougher punishment.

Fred Pritzker, a food safety lawyer in Minneapolis who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corp., said investigators could charge Parnell with federal anti-conspiracy charges.

Or authorities could charge Parnell and his company with mail fraud or wire fraud if prosecutors believe they can prove they were knowingly giving customers adulterated product, said Jim Frush, a former federal prosecutor who is now a criminal defense attorney.

And Alexander said the ongoing investigation could yield a separate, perhaps indirect, charge.

“In cases like this, sometimes the biggest vulnerability people have is lying under oath or lying to federal investigators,” he said.

Authorities say a Blakely, Ga., plant run by Parnell’s company, Peanut Corp. of America, is the sole source of a salmonella outbreak that has led to one of the nation’s biggest food recalls. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection Friday.

Prosecutions in such cases are fairly rare, and they generally lead to fines against companies rather than jail time or other punishments for individuals. Recent convictions include the 1996 case against juice-maker Odwalla Inc., which was fined $1.5 million on charges of shipping unpasteurized apple juice that killed a baby. Five years later, Sara Lee Corp. was fined $200,000 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of selling tainted meats in a listeria outbreak that killed 15 people.

Other, more high-profile outbreaks haven’t yielded criminal charges. Prosecutors decided not to press charges against two produce companies involved in a 2006 tainted spinach case that killed three people and sickened 200 others, saying the investigation found growers and processors did not deliberately skirt the law.

Parnell’s e-mails, released this week by House investigators, depict a man driven by profits who instructed his employees to ship out products despite reports that salmonella was detected. “Turn them loose,” he said in one e-mail.

Parnell, summoned by congressional subpoena, repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself. Reached by telephone Friday, he said his attorneys had advised him not to talk. The company, in statements, has said it is cooperating with federal investigators.

Food safety watchdogs have long argued that the FDA doesn’t pursue criminal charges enough in tainted food cases, but they have little doubt that investigators are building a case as public outrage grows.

“I am no attorney,” said Mike Doyle, a University of Georgia food safety scientist. “But the evidence appears to be a smoking gun. It appears that Mr. Parnell knowingly ordered shipment of salmonella-contaminated product.”

Creighton Magid, a Washington-based products liability attorney often on the defense side, said prosecutors may not press charges in food safety cases because they don’t want to discourage responsible companies from coming forward with their mistakes.

Parnell’s case, he said, appears to be a sharp contrast.

“There’s a huge difference between a recall of a product because of a flaw in manufacturing and knowingly selling a product that is contaminated,” he said. “That’s a different ball game entirely.”

Either way, food safety attorneys say the revelations this week could be the opening act of one of the most high-profile tainted food prosecutions in recent history.

“The question is not whether there will be charges,” said Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer who has filed lawsuits against Parnell’s company. “But what they will charge him with.”

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On the Net:

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, http://www.fda.gov/

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Survey: Peanut recall known but misunderstood

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Posted on 13th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/13/2009

By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA (AP) — Most Americans know about a peanut-based national salmonella outbreak but many are wrong about what products are involved and few have confidence in food safeguards, according to a Harvard survey released Friday.

About 1 in 4 of those polled mistakenly think that national peanut butter brands are involved in the product recalls, but fewer than half are worrying about recalled snack bars, baked goods, ice cream and dry-roasted peanuts.

The recall of 1,900 products includes mainly minor-label peanut butter and a range of other items, but not major brand names of jarred peanut butter.

“A lot of people have taken some precautions but they’re not looking at the ingredients in products not related to peanut butter,” said Robert Blendon, the Harvard health policy professor who directed the survey.

About 93 percent know about the outbreak and recall, and most of them understood it was caused by salmonella bacteria — an unusually high level of awareness for a public health issue, Blendon noted.

The poll also indicated little faith in corporations and the government. Only 1 in 3 Americans said they have a good or great amount of confidence in food manufacturers or government inspectors to keep food safe, the survey found.

Federal health officials are tracking a salmonella outbreak that has caused at least 636 illnesses in 44 states and has been linked to 9 deaths. The outbreak has been traced to a Virginia-based company, Peanut Corporation of America, that makes some minor-label peanut butter, peanut paste and other products.

Nearly 200 food makers who used or sold Peanut Corporation products are listed in a recall of more than 1,900 different items, making this one of the nation’s largest recalls.

The telephone survey, which dialed both landline and cell phone numbers, included nearly 1,300 U.S. adults. The interviews were done last week.

Of those that knew about the outbreak, 70 percent knew that peanut butter crackers were part of the recall.

There was not a question about all brands of peanut butter. But a question about major national brands indicated 25 percent mistakenly thought they were involved and had been recalled.

Only about half correctly identified some snack bars containing peanut paste as part of the recall. Just a little more than a third understood that some candy and prepackaged meals were involved, and only about a quarter identified some types of ice cream as a risk.

Fewer than 1 in 5 people have gone to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s online list of foods involved or sought other information about recalled products.

The survey also indicated extremes of concern and apathy: About 31 percent contacted friends or relatives to make sure they know about the recall, and about 15 percent stopped eating any foods containing peanuts. But 69 percent didn’t contact loved ones, and 45 percent continued to eat all peanut-containing foods.

The survey also found that 33 percent of all survey respondents were very worried or somewhat worried about getting food poisoning, which was down a bit from the 38 percent who expressed such concern in a similar poll last June.

“We don’t know why the level of overall worry about food safety did not increase,” Blendon said. One possible factor: “About the peanut thing, some people say they are not worried because they’re taking precautions,” he said.

The poll also found that 37 percent had a good or great amount of confidence in government food inspections, down from 47 percent a year ago. About 48 percent had significant faith in grocery stores to safeguard food, down from 58 percent a year ago.

Only 32 percent had significant confidence in food manufacturers. There was no similar question on last year’s poll to compare that result to.

The negative reviews may be due in part to increasing success in tracking food problems, said Glen Nowak, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although the number of confirmed food poisonings has held about steady in recent years, more advanced testing allows investigators to better link cases and identify national outbreaks.

“The system is going to look less safe,” Nowak said.

Harvard is funded by the CDC to do a series of surveys on public health topics. The Harvard poll was conducted by ICR of Media, Pa., and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

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On the Net:

Harvard School of Public Health: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Peanut plant owner becomes recluse after outbreak

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Posted on 13th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/13/2009

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writers

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — A little over a month ago, Stewart Parnell was telling friends and clients just how good things were in his peanut business. He was spending time with his grandchild, looking forward to some more hunting and getting his boat out on the water.

Today, the man forever associated with the deadly salmonella outbreak is more the recluse, staying close to the house he bought here more than 14 years ago, when it was still surrounded by pastures. Parnell is telling those same friends and clients not to call, not to visit, not to do anything that might link them to the firestorm he’s facing.

In his hometown in central Virginia, Parnell is known as a respected businessman. But the image of a benevolent peanut tycoon contrasts markedly with what investigators said occurred inside the processing plants of Peanut Corp. of America. Worried about profits, they said, Parnell fired off jaw-dropping e-mails to employees amid reports that salmonella had been detected in his products: “Turn them loose.”

Reconciling the Jekyll-and-Hyde tale of Stewart Parnell, 54, and his contaminated peanuts carries important consequences for food protection reforms already being considered in Washington. Was Parnell a hapless businessman whose mistakes revealed seams in the government’s safety net? Or does the system require a more extensive overhaul to identify companies that might knowingly deliver tainted ingredients?

Those close to Parnell said he’s not a monster, just a person who has made mistakes.

“I haven’t condemned him yet,” said Eddie Marks, who runs a Virginia storage company and has known Parnell for 15 years.

For nearly five minutes before being dismissed, Parnell listened Wednesday as U.S. lawmakers described him as greedy and uncaring, indifferent to the impact his beleaguered business has had on the lives of so many. He repeatedly invoked his constitutional right not to say anything that could be used against him.

Parnell isn’t talking now, not to reporters or congressmen who pelted him with questions about whether his Georgia plant was responsible for 600 illnesses and nine deaths across the country. Nearly 200 food makers who used or sold Parnell’s products are listed on a recall of more than 1,900 items, making this one of the nation’s largest recalls.

His appearance before a House subcommittee was the first opportunity to put a face to the latest food contamination scare: a round, slightly swollen, seemingly sleepless face of a man fidgeting in his seat, or tapping his fingers on the desk before him, or folding his arms awkwardly, or jerking his head to the side as if he heard his name called.

“I’m assuming he will talk when the time is right,” said his brother Michael of Midlothian, Va.

Texas health officials this week told him to shut his plant there and ordered a recall Thursday of all its products after salmonella was discovered, along with “dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers.”

This is not the man Charles Pond knew when he sold him his Suffolk, Va., peanut business in 2001. Parnell leases Pond’s building and makes monthly payments for equipment.

“He’s been slow to pay on some of it, but other than that, we’ve never seen any problems like this,” Pond said.

Parnell has had a long, successful run in the peanut business, starting with his father and two younger brothers in 1977. They took a struggling, $50,000-a-year peanut roasting operation and turned it into a $30 million business before selling in 1995. Parnell once boasted about the company on his Web site.

Parnell continued working as a consultant to the business after the family sold it, and in 2000 he left to buy his own peanut plant again in Texas. In 2001, he bought the Blakely, Ga., operation after teaming up with a financial backer, David Royster III of Shelby, N.C.

Pond said Royster supplied the money, Parnell supplied the experience for the Georgia and Virginia peanut businesses.

Royster did not returned repeated calls for comment over several days made to his office and home by The Associated Press.

Friends of Parnell said there is more to him than what the public has seen. He is a father to two grown daughters, a pilot of more than 30 years, an avid hunter, a reliable contributor to local charities, a man who has spent more than three decades in his business.

“He’s an amazing person,” said Nancy Weaver, a neighbor of Parnell’s. Weaver called a reporter to defend Parnell, to say he’s just being maligned and misunderstood. But she, like others close to him, declined to discuss him further when a reporter knocked on the door.

The public record portrays a different man, someone who repeatedly has faced problems in his business years before it became ground zero for the salmonella outbreak.

In 1990, federal inspectors found toxic mold in products produced in Parnell’s peanut company in Virginia that forced a recall of the food, according to a 1992 lawsuit filed in Virginia. Parnell settled the case with two companies that had products contaminated.

In 2001, inspectors found peanuts may have been exposed to pesticides, and in 2006 Parnell’s company hired a consultant to help resolve a salmonella problem at the Georgia plant.

Parnell is not a fly-by-night operator, said Eddie Marks, the Virginia businessman and Parnell client. Parnell’s client list includes some of the nation’s largest food companies — Kellogg, Frito-Lay, Jenny Craig, Sara Lee.

“I think you can look at his customer base and determine that he’s been well-recognized,” Marks said.

Michael Smith, purchasing manager for Stapleton-Spence Packing Co. in Gridley, Calif., has bought peanuts from Parnell for years and describes him as “one of the nicest guys in the world.”

Smith said he recently sent Parnell an e-mail expressing support, and in less than five minutes Parnell responded.

“He said, ‘I have one thing for you: Take care of yourself, your family and your business.”

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Blackledge reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Greg Bluestein in Atlanta and Sharon Theimer in Washington contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Ohio reports new death linked to salmonella strain

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Posted on 11th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/11/2009

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The number of deaths linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak rose to nine Wednesday when Ohio health officials announced that an elderly woman who died earlier this year had been infected with the strain involved.

The woman was from Medina County, south of Cleveland. Kristopher Weiss, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health, said he could not release any other details on her death, citing federal reporting rules.

Though the woman had the same strain of salmonella associated with the national outbreak, it was unclear if the contamination was directly linked to peanut butter.

A peanut plant in Georgia is accused of shipping salmonella-tainted goods.

The salmonella outbreak has sickened 600 people and has led to one of the largest recalls in history, with more than 1,900 products pulled. Ohio is reporting 92 cases linked to the outbreak, the most in the United States.

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On the Net:

Ohio Department of Health: http://www.odh.ohio.gov

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

House hearing to focus on peanut executives

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Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/11/2009

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee issued a subpoena Tuesday for the top executive of a small company that allegedly shipped the tainted peanut products responsible for a national salmonella outbreak.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to compel Peanut Corp. of America President Stewart Parnell to appear at a hearing Wednesday, as a wide-ranging investigation focuses on who was responsible for an outbreak that has sickened at least 600 people and may have contributed to eight deaths.

“Hopefully, people are going to be held accountable,” said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the committee’s investigations panel. The full committee approved the subpoena by voice vote, without opposition.

Stupak says he wants know how Peanut Corp. managed to sell allegedly tainted goods month after month without triggering action by state and federal health authorities.

The family-owned company, now under FBI investigation, makes only about 1 percent of U.S. peanut products. But its ingredients are used by dozens of other food companies, and the list of recalls now tops 1,840 foods.

Also on the witness list for the hearing is Sammy Lightsey, manager of Peanut Corp.’s facility in Blakely, Ga., which produced and shipped the peanut butter and peanut paste blamed for the outbreak.

Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could harm consumers’ health.

Peanut Corp.’s troubles mounted this week as the FBI raided corporate headquarters in Lynchburg, Va., as well as the Georgia plant. On Monday night, the company closed a second facility, in Plainview, Texas, after test results found earlier in the day indicated salmonella was present in samples taken at the Texas plant. None of the products had been distributed to consumers, but the finding raised the prospect of a broader recall.

Further testing is needed to confirm the results, said Doug McBride, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

After the results came back Monday, the FDA sent inspectors back to the Texas plant to check more thoroughly for signs of problems similar to those found at the Georgia plant, which has been identified as the source of the salmonella outbreak.

The company has said it is still investigating what happened and has expressed regret and concern for people who became ill. It is not clear whether Parnell will testify on Wednesday or assert his constitutional right to not answer questions that may incriminate him.

A Food and Drug Administration inspection report found that the company shipped peanut products that tested positive for salmonella on 12 occasions from 2007-2008.

In some cases, Peanut Corp. got a second test before shipping that did not find salmonella. But in other cases, the company did not wait for the results of a second test before sending out its products, the FDA report said.

And, in one 2007 case, the company shipped chopped peanuts after getting a positive test result for salmonella, the FDA said.

“No matter what the tests are, they don’t care — they are shipping the product,” said Stupak.

Executives of two labs that tested products for Peanut Corp. also were expected to testify Wednesday.

One of them, Charles Deibel, president of Deibel Laboratories, said in a previous interview that his company advises its clients they “can’t retest away a positive result.”

Stupak said he thinks the labs had an ethical responsibility to report the problems to authorities.

“It’s not the written law, but there’s a responsibility there,” he said.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, he added. “Responsibility includes the FDA, it includes Parnell, it includes the plant managers, it includes Georgia officials,” Stupak said.

Peanuts started out as a family business for Parnell, 54. He, his brothers Hugh Jr. and Mike, and their father, Hugh Parnell Sr., founded the company in the mid-1970s.

Hugh Parnell Sr. said Tuesday his lawyers told him not to comment on the outbreak or his son’s company. The elder Parnell said he left the business nearly 20 years ago.

“Naturally, we’re all quite upset,” Parnell said Tuesday in a brief telephone interview.

The Parnells focused the company on the candy, ice cream and confection industries, according to material previously published on the Peanut Corp.’s Web site. The company at one point employed more than 95 workers in three states and had gross annual sales of more than $30 million.

“I have been in the peanut business since 1976 and providing a quality product at a fair cost has been the credence our business has grown up with for the past 28 years,” Stewart Parnell previously was quoted on the company’s Web site as saying.

Peanut Corp. is also under fire from an insurer. In a federal lawsuit filed in Virginia last week, the Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. argued that Peanut Corp.’s actions may have negated its insurance coverage.

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Associated Press writers Ann Sanner and Sharon Theimer contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

FDA’s salmonella page: http://tinyurl.com/8srctw

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Lab tests show possible salmonella at Texas plant

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Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/10/2009

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) — Private lab tests show there may have been salmonella at a second plant operated by the peanut company at the center of a national outbreak, but the potentially tainted products were not sent to consumers, Texas health officials said Tuesday.

The Peanut Corp. of America temporarily closed its plant in Plainview, Texas, Monday night at the request of health officials after the tests found “the possible presence of salmonella” in some of its products, the Texas Department of Health said in a statement.

The Texas plant produces peanut meal, granulated peanuts and dry roasted peanuts. Texas state health officials said that possibly contaminated peanut meal and granulated peanuts had not been sent to customers. Potentially contaminated dry roasted peanuts were shipped to a distributor, but were caught before reaching the public, state officials said.

The company is being investigated in connection with an outbreak that has sickened 600 people and may have caused at least eight deaths. More than 1,840 possibly contaminated consumer products have been recalled.

Peanut Corp. closed its plant in Blakely, Ga., last month after federal investigators identified that facility as the source of the salmonella outbreak. Company spokeswoman Amy Rotenberg did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

The Texas closing came a day after the FBI raided the company’s plant in Georgia, hauling off boxes and other material. Agents executed search warrants at both the plant and at Peanut Corp.’s headquarters in Lynchburg, Va., according to a senior congressional aide with knowledge of the raids. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

During their investigation at the Georgia plant, Food and Drug Administration inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems. They also found two strains of salmonella. Though different from the outbreak strain, the discovery of the bacteria at the plant signalled a hole in food safety.

The FDA said last week the company knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products from the Georgia plant after tests showed the products were contaminated. Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could make it harmful to consumers’ health.

FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said the agency is still investigating the Plainview facility. It was not immediately known if the discovery would lead to broader product recalls. Cruzan said the FDA is searching records to see where products from the Plainview plant may have been distributed.

“The FDA has collected its own samples and is awaiting lab results,” Cruzan said. Initially, agency officials had indicated that the salmonella problems seemed to be limited to Peanut Corp.’s Georgia plant.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that the Texas plant, which opened in March 2005 and was run by a subsidiary, Plainview Peanut Co., operated uninspected and unlicensed by state health officials until after the company came under investigation last month by the Food and Drug Administration.

Doug McBride, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said Peanut Corp. agreed to shut the plant voluntarily as it works with the state agency.

Plainview Mayor John Anderson said Tuesday the Texas plant employed about 30 people. It was not immediately clear how they would be affected by the suspension.

“I’m just very sorry to hear that,” Plainview Mayor John Anderson said Tuesday when a reporter called with news of the suspension. “Hopefully it’s just a temporary suspension. That’d be the best of all worlds.”

The company, which also operates a small plant under the name Tidewater Blanching in Suffolk, Va., sold its peanut butter to institutional clients, such as nursing homes, and its peanut paste to many other companies that used it as an ingredient in products ranging from cookies and ice cream to energy bars and pet treats. While the company initially said its products weren’t sold directly to consumers, it said Sunday that some were sold directly to discount retailers.

Food safety attorney Bill Marler, one of several attorneys who have filed civil lawsuits against the company since the outbreak started, said it was the latest disturbing turn for Peanut Corp.

“It is clear that PCA is not a producer that companies could — or can — rely on for a safe product,” he said.

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Associated Press Writers Brett Blackledge and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington, Greg Bluestein in Atlanta and Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Jar peanut butter sales fall amid salmonella fears

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Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/10/2009

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) — Shoppers are leaving jarred peanut butter off their grocery lists, according to sales figures, even though familiar brands have not been affected by the salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds and led to one of the largest product recalls in U.S. history.

To fight the sales slump, the makers of Jif and Peter Pan have countered with a costly advertising campaign aimed at reassuring nervous eaters.

Jarred peanut butter sales during the four weeks ending Jan. 24 dropped 22 percent from the same period the previous year, according to figures compiled by The Nielsen Company, which tracks consumer purchasing decisions. The 33.8 million pounds of peanut butter includes jars sold at food, drug and mass merchandisers, but not Wal-Mart stores.

Although more recent data weren’t available Monday, hundreds more products have been recalled since the period measured by Nielsen, making the peanut industry’s woes even more visible to consumers. As a result, some consumers say they’re avoiding peanut butter entirely.

“I just stopped because I didn’t want to risk anything happening,” said Kate Labrecque, 24, as she ate lunch in a downtown Atlanta park. She said she’s waiting until “they put something out that says it’s safe to eat stuff with peanuts.”

Federal investigators have linked peanut products made at Peanut Corp. of America’s southwest Georgia peanut processing plant to the salmonella outbreak that has sickened 575 people and may have caused as many as eight deaths.

On Monday, the FBI raided the plant in Blakely, Ga., hauling off boxes and other material. Agents executed search warrants at both the plant and at Peanut Corp.’s headquarters in Lynchburg, Va., according to a senior congressional aide with knowledge of the raids. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The Lynchburg, Va.-based company sold its peanut butter to institutional clients, such as nursing homes, and its peanut paste to many other companies that used it as an ingredient in products ranging from cookies and ice cream to energy bars and pet treats. While the company initially said its products weren’t sold directly to consumers, it said Sunday that some of its products — including dry and honey-roasted nuts — were also sold directly to consumers at the retailers 99 Cent Stuff, 99 Cents Only Stores, Dollar General, and Dollar Tree Stores.

Leading brands of jarred peanut butter, however, aren’t part of the scandal, and their makers have found themselves scrambling to spread that message to shoppers.

J.M. Smucker Co., which makes Jif peanut butter, has received about 40,000 phone calls from concerned customers since reports surfaced that the bacteria outbreak was linked to peanut butter, said spokeswoman Maribeth Badertscher.

“We’re doing what we can to make sure consumers know our products are safe,” she said.

Smuckers and ConAgra Foods Inc., the maker of Peter Pan, have both taken out half-page newspaper ads in papers around the country telling consumers their products are completely safe and featuring coupons for savings on a jar of their peanut butter.

“Consumers have been confused by the media and are uncertain about what products are safe,” said Stephanie Childs, a spokeswoman for ConAgra. “We’ve been very clear to consumers about the safety of our products and the reasons that we can be sure our products are safe.”

Those reasons — echoed by Smuckers and Skippy manufacturer Unilever — include stringent product safety and quality control measures and the fact that they do not buy any products from Peanut Corp.

But for some shoppers, those companies’ efforts haven’t sunk in yet.

“I have stopped totally eating or purchasing peanut products until I get more information this problem is solved,” said Atlanta resident Michael Jackson, a 59-year-old printer who adds that he loves peanut butter.

In Pittsburgh, Cindy Connelly mistakenly bought peanut butter-filled pretzels, and her husband promptly tossed them in the trash.

“Hopefully there’ll be more control over this kind of thing and it’s not worth getting sick over it,” said the 55-year-old hospital admissions official in Pittsburgh.

But industry officials say consumers can easily check which products are and aren’t safe. In addition to the list of recalled products on the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site, the American Peanut Council, an umbrella trade association that represents all segments of the U.S. peanut industry, has put a list on its own Web site of products that are safe to eat.

“The vast majority of peanut products, or products containing peanuts, are safe,” said council president Patrick Archer. “If consumers have any doubt, they should check with the manufacturer.”

And some consumers are doing just that.

Retirees Ray Pfeifer, 60, and his wife Kathleen, 61, had peanut butter on their grocery list when they stopped at a Giant Eagle grocery store in Pittsburgh Monday. Ray Pfeifer had checked the online listings before leaving the house and knew his preferred brand, Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter, was OK.

“I’m off peanuts but I’m not off peanut butter,” he said. “I’m just looking to see where it’s from.”

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Associated Press Writers Johnny Clark in Atlanta, Jim Drinkard in Washington and Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

FDA, http://www.fda.gov

American Peanut Council, http://www.peanutsusa.com

Peter Pan peanut butter, http://www.peterpanpb.com

Jif peanut butter, http://www.jif.com/home.asp

Skippy peanut butter, http://www.peanutbutter.com

Peanut Corp. of America, http://www.peanutcorp.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

US relies on states for food safety inspections

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Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 2/10/2009

BY SETH BORENSTEIN and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has increasingly relied on food-safety inspections performed by states, where budgets for inspections in many cases have remained stagnant and where overburdened officials are trained less than their federal counterparts and perform skimpier reviews, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The thoroughness of inspections performed by states has emerged as a key issue in the investigation of the national salmonella outbreak traced to a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga. The outbreak, which has highlighted weaknesses in the nation’s food-safety system, is blamed for 600 illnesses and at least eight deaths in 44 states.

The House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, which is to hold a hearing Wednesday on food safety, scheduled a meeting Tuesday to issue a subpoena for Peanut Corp. of America President Stewart Parnell, said a senior aide to a member of the panel. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because panel members were still being notified, said Parnell was otherwise refusing to appear at the hearing.

State investigators performed more than half the Food and Drug Administration’s food inspections in 2007, according to an AP analysis of FDA data. That represents a dramatic rise from a decade ago, when FDA investigators performed three out of four of the federal government’s inspections. The Agriculture Department is responsible for meat and dairy safety.

Increased inspection responsibilities have not been accompanied by big spending increases in many states responsible for the bulk of the nation’s food production.

The FDA covers some costs for states to perform inspections. But in Pennsylvania and Ohio, for example, each state’s own food safety spending increased only slightly since 2003, less than the rate of inflation; in California and Massachusetts, just barely more than inflation; and in New Jersey, spending has remained about the same. Those are among states with the largest numbers of food-processing plants.

“It clearly is a passing the buck kind of thing and somebody is dropping the buck along the way,” said Cornell University food safety professor Joseph Hotchkiss.

A Georgia health inspector noted only two minor violations at the Peanut Corp. of America plant in October, and inspection reports indicate officials spent no more than a few hours inside the plant during visits there. But after the FDA became suspicious of the plant’s role in the outbreak months later, it found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems. The federal agents spent days at the plant.

“To say that food safety in this country is a patchwork system is giving it too much credit,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Agriculture Committee. “Food safety in America has become a hit or miss gamble, and that is truly frightening. It’s time to find the gaps in the system and remedy them.”

The FDA never followed up on the Georgia inspections because the problems discovered by the state “were considered to be somewhat resolved,” Michael Chappell, head of the FDA’s enforcement division, said during a congressional hearing last week.

The FDA relied on Georgia to inspect the Peanut Corp. plant in Blakely between 2006 and 2008, just as it relies on other states. But Georgia failed to identify problems, even as the company’s own internal testing repeatedly found salmonella in its products and Canada rejected a shipment of its peanuts because of metal contamination.

“Many of these state contract inspections are much briefer, much less intensive inspections than the FDA does,” said former FDA deputy commissioner Michael Taylor, who supports contracting to the states.

Taylor said the FDA doesn’t have enough money to perform its own inspections. But he acknowledges problems with state visits and has urged a dramatic overhaul of federal and state food safety.

The number of federal field food inspectors dropped by more than 400 between 2003 and 2007, according to the FDA’s budget. But the number of businesses requiring oversight increased by 7,200 between 2003 and 2007, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

“What’s happened is the agency can do fewer and fewer (inspections) itself, so if it’s going to do anything it has to use the states,” said Bill Hubbard, a former associate FDA commissioner who now lobbies for increases in FDA funding. “The states can do it much more cheaply, but the states may not do as it thoroughly.”

Some states, such as New York and Florida, earn high praise among food safety experts for conducting professional inspections. And in some cases, state enforcement laws give state officials more authority than the FDA’s inspectors have under federal laws.

Florida’s food safety director, Dr. Marion Aller, said her inspectors are as good as the FDA’s. But even though Florida recently raised fees it charges for inspections, she acknowledged the state’s food safety budget “has not kept pace with the growth in the industry.”

“We are not inspecting 100 percent of the firms at 100 percent of the desired times,” she said.

In the wake of the Georgia case, food-safety inspections are facing new scrutiny from Congress. The FBI said Monday it has joined the criminal investigation involving the owner of the Georgia plant.

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Associated Press writer Jim Drinkard contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
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