Lab tests show possible salmonella at Texas plant

0 comments

Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , ,

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.

___

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

0 comments

Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , , ,

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.”

___

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

___

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

0 comments

Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , ,

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.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Drinkard contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Summary

Peanut company in salmonella probe shuts 2nd plant

0 comments

Posted on 10th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , , , ,

Date: 2/10/2009

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) — The peanut company at the center of an investigation into a deadly national salmonella outbreak suspended operations at a second processing plant Tuesday.

Peanut Corporation of America said in a statement it was voluntarily suspending operations at its Plainview, Texas, plant while state and federal health officials investigate procedures and food safety records there. The facility is operated by a subsidiary, Plainview Peanut Co.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that the Plainview plant, which opened in March 2005, operated uninspected and unlicensed by state health officials until after the company came under investigation last month by the Food and Drug Administration. Once inspectors learned about the Texas site, they found no sign of salmonella there.

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.

Peanut Corp. closed its plant in Blakely, Ga., last month after federal investigators identified that facility as the source of the salmonella outbreak. The company also operates a small plant under the name Tidewater Blanching in Suffolk, Va.

The Texas closing comes a day after the FBI raided the 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.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday that the number of cases linked to the current outbreak has reached 600, with one case in Florida bringing the number of affected states to 44. It may also have contributed to eight deaths.

“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.”

He said the plant employed about 30 people. It was not immediately clear how the suspension would affect them.

Plainview, a city of about 22,000, is about 48 miles north of Lubbock and relies heavily on agriculture for its livelihood.

“They’ve been very good citizens of ours,” said David Evans, executive director of the Hale County Industrial Foundation, the county’s economic development body. “I can’t say a bad word about them.”

Food safety attorney Bill Marler, one of several plaintiff’s attorneys who has 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.

___

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

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Summary

Possibly tainted peanut butter sent to schools

0 comments

Posted on 6th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , , , ,

Date: 2/6/2009

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Agriculture Department shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to schools in at least three states under a contract with the Georgia company blamed for a nationwide salmonella outbreak.

The government abruptly suspended all business with the company Thursday, as officials defended their efforts to halt the outbreak that has sickened at least 575 people in 43 states. At least eight have died. It’s become one of the largest food recalls ever, including more than 1,300 products.

The potentially contaminated products went to school free lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007, the Department of Agriculture said Friday. Peanut butter and roasted peanuts processed by the Peanut Corp. of America were sent to the schools.

None of the states reported illnesses as a result of students eating the recalled peanut products.

Jim Brownlee, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department, said there have been no potentially contaminated shipments from the company in the last year. It was unclear how much of the suspect food might still remain uneaten at the schools.

Despite ongoing reports of illnesses linked to the company, the Agriculture department only Thursday suspended Peanut Corp. from participating in government contract programs, for at least a year. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also removed Stewart Parnell, president of the company, from USDA’s Peanut Standards Board.

The company’s actions indicate that it “lacks business integrity and business honesty, which seriously and directly hinders its ability to do business with the federal government,” said David Shipman, acting administrator of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, said in a statement.

The recalled foods used ingredients from the Peanut Corp. processing plant in Blakely, Ga. While the outbreak appears to be slowing down, new illnesses are still being reported.

School officials across the country have been checking cafeterias and vending machines for the recalled products, and some have stopped serving any peanut-related products at all, out of an abundance of caution.

The Food and Drug Administration learned only weeks ago that the Peanut Corp. of America had received a series of private tests dating back to 2007 showing salmonella in their products from the Georgia plant, but later shipped the items after obtaining negative test results.

The Agriculture Department initially said that school meal programs were not affected by the large-scale recall. But that changed when Peanut Corp. expanded its recall to all peanut products made at the plant since Jan. 1, 2007.

At a Senate hearing Thursday on the salmonella outbreak, lawmakers reacted angrily when told that food companies and state safety inspectors don’t have to report to the FDA when test results find pathogens in a processing plant, leaving the federal government in the dark.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

FDA defends its handling of salmonella outbreak

0 comments

Posted on 6th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , , ,

Date: 2/5/2009 12:10 PM

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

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are defending their handling of the nationwide salmonella outbreak, telling Congress they had been hot on the trail of a Georgia processor even before they were certain that peanuts were to blame for hundreds of illnesses.

The Food and Drug Administration “began its investigation prior to having a strong epidemiological link to a particular food,” Stephen Sundlof, head of the agency’s food safety center, said in testimony prepared for delivery to the Senate Agriculture Committee.

The first signs of the outbreak were detected in November by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But disease detectives initially suspected chicken was the culprit in clusters of salmonella infections that states were reporting.

On Jan. 7 and 8, after discussions between federal and Minnesota authorities, peanut butter was added to the short list of suspects when some people who had gotten sick reported eating peanut butter in nursing homes and at an elementary school. On Jan. 8, the FDA visited an Ohio distributor for Peanut Corp. of America.

The next day federal inspectors were at the company’s Blakely, Ga. facility, which ultimately was identified as the source of the food poisoning. That same day, Jan. 9, Minnesota health officials found salmonella in an open container of peanut butter made at the plant. On Jan. 10, Minnesota made a positive match to the salmonella strain that caused the outbreak.

Lawmakers, however, may not be reassured. They are concerned about the state of the national food safety system, a collaboration between the FDA, CDC and authorities in each state. As the list of recalled items containing peanut products surpasses 1,000, lawmakers are vowing to press for stronger food safety laws and more money for inspections.

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

The salmonella outbreak has sickened at least 550 people in 43 states, eight of whom have died. New cases are being reported, although the outbreak is slowing.

The Peanut Corp. plant in Blakely, Ga., which produces a tiny share of U.S. peanut products, is being blamed. Authorities say the facility shipped peanut butter, paste and other products that had tested positive for salmonella. The company retested, got a negative reading, and shipped the products.

A criminal investigation is under way. The company has denied any wrongdoing and said Wednesday that its Blakely plant had received regular visits and inspections from state and federal authorities in 2008 and had gotten a “superior” rating from an independent inspection.

As the list of recall list grows, Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan said it’s a textbook example of an ingredient-driven outbreak.

“The event illustrates how a large and widespread outbreak can occur from distribution of a single item to hundreds of foods,” Khan said in his prepared testimony.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are dusting off food safety legislation that went nowhere under administration of former President George W. Bush and are hoping for better luck under President Barack Obama, who has criticized the FDA’s handling of the outbreak.

But it remains unclear whether Congress can deliver major improvements in food safety this year, given the press of critical issues such as the shaky economy and a ballooning federal deficit.

All the reform proposals would give the FDA authority to order recalls, which are now voluntary.

Reformers also agree that food processing plants should be required to have a safety plan and document their compliance. And there is widespread agreement that standards for imported foods must be upgraded.

There’s also consensus that inspections should be carried out according to common requirements, but legislators differ on how frequently checks should be performed.

There’s agreement on the need for standards for fresh produce, but there are differences over setting up a tracking system to find foods implicated in an outbreak.

One of the bills calls for taking food safety away from the FDA, where it is sometimes seen as a bureaucratic stepchild, and setting up a new Food Safety Administration within the Health and Human Services Department.

William Hubbard, a former FDA associate commissioner, said no reforms can succeed without more money. He says Congress must double the FDA’s food safety budget to about $1 billion a year.

But even with that, Hubbard warned, the agency would not be able to regularly inspect some 150,000 facilities that produce, ship and store foods. He says the answer is a food safety system in which the FDA sets rules that all players in the food industry must comply with and that states help to enforce.

___

On the Net:

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

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Peanut product recall tops list of bad foods

0 comments

Posted on 5th February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , ,

Date: 2/5/2009

By The Associated Press

The recall of peanut products because of possible salmonella contamination has mushroomed into one of the largest.

Depending on how recalls are measured, few others come close. If counted by the number of products, more than 1,313 have been recalled as of Thursday. The closest is the 1,177 pet food products recalled in 2007 after melamine was discovered in some ingredients.

If measured in pounds, the February 2008 recall of beef from a California packaging plant would top the list, with 143 million pounds affected.

The current salmonella outbreak has been blamed for eight deaths and 575 illnesses. A June 2008 salmonella contamination of tomatoes and jalapeno peppers made more people ill — more than 1,200.

___

Breakdown of recent national food contaminations that triggered recalls and warnings to consumers:

—January 2009: Peanuts, peanut paste, peanut butter; 1,313 products recalled; salmonella contamination; produced by Peanut Corp. of America in Georgia; more than 575 illnesses and eight deaths reported.

—June 2008: Tomatoes and raw jalapeno peppers; more than $100 million in crops affected; salmonella contamination; grown in Mexico; more than 1,200 illnesses reported and no deaths.

—February 2008: beef; more than 143 million pounds affected; unfit, weak and sick cattle slaughtered for human consumption; packed by Westland Meat Co. in California; no illnesses or deaths reported.

—March 2007: Pet food; 1,177 products recalled; melamine contamination; produced from vegetable proteins imported from China. no human illnesses or deaths reported, but more than 14,000 pet illnesses and 16 deaths.

—September 2006: Spinach; more than $86 million in crops affected; E. coli contamination; grown in California; more than 200 illnesses and three deaths reported.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Firm tied to salmonella ran unlicensed Texas plant

0 comments

Posted on 3rd February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , , , ,

Date: 2/3/2009

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — A peanut processing plant in Texas run by the same company blamed for a national salmonella outbreak operated for years uninspected and unlicensed by government health officials, The Associated Press has learned.

The Peanut Corp. of America plant in Plainview never was inspected until after the company fell under investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Texas health records obtained by AP.

Once inspectors learned about the Texas plant, they found no sign of salmonella there. But new details about that plant — including how it could have operated unlicensed for nearly four years — raise questions about the adequacy of government efforts to keep the nation’s food supply safe. Texas is among states where the FDA relies on state inspectors to oversee food safety.

The salmonella outbreak was traced to the company’s sister plant in Blakely, Ga., where inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and internal records of more than a dozen positive tests for salmonella.

The outbreak so far has resulted in more than 500 reported illnesses, led to an expansive recall and caused as many as eight deaths. The government is working on a criminal investigation in the case.

In Texas, inspector Patrick Moore of the Department of State Health Services was sent to Plainview, in the sparsely populated Texas Panhandle, after salmonella was traced to the company’s plant in Georgia. Moore said the Texas plant wasn’t licensed with health officials and had never been inspected since it opened in March 2005. Texas requires food manufacturers to be licensed every two years and routinely inspected.

“I was not aware this plant was in operation and did not know (what) type of products processed,” Moore wrote in an inspection report obtained by AP.

The plant is registered with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to do business as Plainview Peanut Co. LLC, according to state records. But the company “was unable to present evidence at the time of the inspection of a current food manufacturers license,” Moore wrote in his report.

The plant was properly registered with the FDA as a food processing plant, said David Glasgow, director of the agency’s investigations branch in Dallas. FDA inspectors went through the plant two weeks ago after the state inspection and did not find salmonella or other problems, Glasgow said.

Texas ordered its inspection Jan. 12 during the FDA’s investigation of the Georgia plant, after it received reports that Peanut Corp. was operating the plant in Plainview, health services spokesman Doug McBride said. Texas requires food companies to obtain two-year licenses but doesn’t have enough money or inspectors to catch companies that don’t.

“We can’t drive up and down the street to know what people are doing behind closed doors,” McBride said.

Moore reported some unsanitary conditions, such as unclean sections of a peanut roasting line. But several internal company laboratory tests dating back to November found no salmonella or other contaminants, according to documents included in Moore’s report.

Plant manager Jesus Garrocho told Moore that he sent Texas health department forms to the company’s Virginia headquarters more than a year ago and did not know why the licensing forms were not completed.

Moore said the plant manager promised during the January inspection to register the plant with state health officials: “He will make sure this gets in and paid,” Moore wrote.

McBride said the company still hasn’t done so.

“Our first preference is not to go out and shut somebody down and wipe out jobs and income,” he said. “Our philosophy in any of our regulatory programs is to try to get a company in compliance.”

The plant is the subject of a complaint filed since the state’s inspection Jan. 12, and is scheduled for a new inspection in coming weeks, McBride said. He would not provide details about the complaint.

Garrocho referred questions Monday to company lawyers. Amy Rotenberg, a Minneapolis lawyer representing Peanut Corp., declined to comment.

The Texas plant blanches, dry roasts, oil-roasts and chops peanuts, then ships them to food companies across the country. The Georgia plant also processes peanuts, and produces peanut paste and peanut butter.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Inspection reports from peanut plant varied widely

0 comments

Posted on 2nd February 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , ,

Date: 2/2/2009

By KATE BRUMBACK and GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writers

BLAKELY, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia health inspector who toured the peanut butter plant now at the center of a national salmonella outbreak noted only two minor violations in October. Less than three months later, federal inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems.

Food safety experts say the lapse is a major concern and shows state inspectors are spread thin and might need more training on how to spot unsanitary conditions.

“It’s surprising to me that that many major deficiencies were observed at one time, and none of these were picked up previously,” said Michael Doyle, head of the food safety center at the University of Georgia.

In October, state inspector Donna Adams noted only two violations in her report on the Peanut Corp. of America plant: tote containers with butter residue and “black buildup” and “mildew and possibly some static dust on ceiling of butter storage room.”

No samples of the finished product were taken for salmonella testing during the October inspection, despite a push by the state to check for the bacteria after a salmonella outbreak was traced to another Georgia peanut butter plant in 2007.

The October report showing only minor violations seems to conflict with conditions observed by at least one former employee, though others said they saw no problems.

Jonathan Prather, who said he worked in the plant’s peanut butter room until he and most of the plant’s other employees were recently laid off, said he sometimes saw old and soggy peanuts being used and other unsanitary conditions. When he raised concerns about the plant’s cleanliness, Prather said he was ignored by managers.

“The only thing they said is, ‘We’ll handle this, we’ll handle the problem,’” he said. “But I don’t see that they did because if they had, none of this would have happened.”

Another former employee, Jimmy Boozer, said he worked at the plant for six years and never noticed any unsanitary conditions. Co-worker Lewis Smith, who had been working at the plant for about two years, said the plant appeared generally clean. One problem Smith noticed was a roof that leaked for months and continued to leak even after plant managers said it had been repaired.

A leaky roof would likely cause some concern for inspectors: After the 2007 salmonella outbreak was linked to a Georgia peanut butter plant operated by ConAgra Foods Inc., company officials said jars were contaminated when moisture from a roof leak and a malfunctioning sprinkler system mixed with dormant salmonella bacteria in the plant.

Adams, who inspected the plant twice last year, did not come to the door to speak to a reporter who visited her home in southwestern Georgia. A man who identified himself as her husband referred all questions to the state.

Georgia agricultural officials did not return repeated phone calls and messages seeking comment. Earlier in the week, Agricultural Commissioner Tommy Irvin defended his inspectors, saying they did the best they could with limited manpower and funding.

Irvin said the department has about 60 inspectors responsible for examining 15,000 sites — or 250 food sources per inspector — ranging from ice machines to sprawling factories. Some territories are left uncovered, forcing the state to shift employees from one area to another.

Peanut Corp. did not respond to several requests asking for details of plant operations. The company issued a general statement late Friday that emphasized its top concern continues to be ensuring public safety.

“For Peanut Corporation to engage in any discussion of the facts at this point is premature,” the statement said.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it had asked the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation into Peanut Corp., which authorities say shipped products that initially tested positive for salmonella after retesting and getting a negative result.

At least 529 people have been sickened as a result of the outbreak, and at least eight may have died because of it. More than 430 products have been recalled.

The 29-year-old Prather painted a grim picture of the facility, describing managers more concerned with the company’s bottom line than with properly cleaning the plant and equipment.

He said both soggy peanuts and peanuts in packages marked with dates showing they were five or six years old were dumped into the production line. The American Peanut Council, an industry trade association, says peanuts need to be kept dry to prevent mold and other risks.

Prather also said a dry roaster at the plant was halted only one day a month for cleaning. Doyle, the food safety expert, said peanut roasters should be cleaned and sanitized at least once a week.

“What they needed to do and what they didn’t do is clean up right,” said Prather, who noted the plant was sometimes shut down for cleaning on the weekends but said that wasn’t enough.

Doyle, who has been asked by the American Peanut Council to help review the industry’s practices, said the state would likely have to provide inspectors with “more in-depth training in terms of the really critical areas.”

And he said it’s a problem that likely spans far beyond Georgia.

“It’s something the federal government is going to have to take a lead role on, to develop criteria for different producers,” Doyle said. “I think this peanut plant is just an example of the weakness in our system.”

___

Greg Bluestein reported from Atlanta.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Peanut plant problem forces fresh recall

0 comments

Posted on 29th January 2009 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

, , , , , , ,

Date: 1/29/2009

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Worried about salmonella, the Army said Thursday it’s removing some peanut butter items from warehouses in Europe, the latest in an ever-growing list of recalled peanut products linked to a national salmonella outbreak.

Already more than 430 kinds of cakes, cookies and other goods in the civilian world have been pulled off store shelves in what the Food and Drug Administration is calling one of the largest product recalls in memory. The Army’s recall does not affect Meals-Ready-to-Eat, but another kind of military grub called Unitized Group Rations-A, which provide a complete 50-person meal.

More than 500 people have gotten sick in the U.S. outbreak, and at least eight may have died as a result of salmonella infection.

At the center of the investigation is a Georgia peanut processing plant where federal inspectors reported finding roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitary problems.

Managers at the Blakely, Ga., plant owned by Peanut Corp. of America continued shipping peanut products even after they were found to contain salmonella, the FDA said. The company shipped the food items after retesting them and getting negative results.

Peanut Corp. expanded its recall Wednesday to all peanut goods produced at the plant since Jan. 1, 2007. The company makes just 1 percent of the peanut products sold in the United States, but those products are ingredients in hundreds of other foods, from ice cream, to Asian-style sauces, to dog biscuits. Major national brands of peanut butter are not affected.

A senior lawmaker in Congress and Georgia’s agriculture commissioner called for a criminal probe of the company, but the FDA said that would be premature while its own food safety investigation continues.

The company says it is fully cooperating with the government and has stopped all production at the plant. Peanut Corp. said in a statement it “categorically denies any allegations that the company sought favorable results from any lab in order to ship its products.”

Stewart Parnell, the firm’s president, said that the recall was expanded out of an abundance of caution.

“We have been devastated by this, and we have been working around the clock with the FDA to ensure any potentially unsafe products are removed from the market immediately,” Parnell said.

Most of the older products in the expanded recall have probably been eaten already. Officials said they see no signs of any earlier outbreaks from those goods.

The recall covers peanut butter, peanut paste, peanut meal and granulated products, as well as all peanuts — dry and oil roasted — shipped from the factory. FDA officials could not quantify the amount of products being recalled.

Officials recommend that consumers check the FDA web site, which lists all the products being recalled, and toss out any that are named.

Salmonella had been found previously at least 12 times in products made at the plant, but production lines were never cleaned after internal tests indicated contamination, FDA inspectors said in a report. Products that initially tested positive were retested. When the company got a negative reading, it shipped the products out.

That happened as recently as September. A month later, health officials started picking up signals of the salmonella outbreak.

Michael Rogers, a senior FDA investigator, said it’s possible for salmonella to hide in small pockets of a large batch of peanut butter. That means the same batch can yield both positive and negative results, he said. The products should have been discarded after they first tested positive.

Separately, senior congressional and state officials on Wednesday called for a federal probe of possible criminal violations at the plant.

The company’s actions “can only be described as reprehensible and criminal,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who oversees FDA funding. “This behavior represents the worst of our current food safety regulatory system.”

In Georgia, the state’s top agriculture official joined DeLauro in asking the Justice Department to determine whether the case warrants criminal prosecution.

“They tried to hide it so they could sell it,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin. “Now they’ve caused a mammoth problem that could destroy their company — and it could destroy the peanut industry.”

___

On the Net:

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

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »