Peanut Corp. Shipped Product After Finding Salmonella
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) --
Peanut Corp. of America shipped peanut butter products from a Blakely, Georgia, plant after tests on 12 occasions in 2007 and 2008 showed salmonella was present, U.S. health officials said today.
After getting the results, the closely held company based in Lynchburg, Virginia, contracted with other laboratories to conduct new tests and continued sending products to customers, said
Michael Rogers, director of the division of field investigations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“There were no steps taken” by the firm to reduce contamination at the time, Rogers said today in a telephone briefing for reporters conducted by officials of the FDA and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The Georgia plant has been identified as the source of an outbreak of
Salmonella typhimurium that began in September and as of Jan. 25 had sickened 502 people in the U.S. and Canada, leading to the deaths of eight people, CDC officials said today.
Kellogg Co., Trader Joe’s Co. and Jenny Craig Inc. are among dozens of companies that have recalled more than
350 products because they contain ingredients from Peanut Corp.
“PCA has cooperated fully with FDA from Day 1 during the course of this investigation,” said George Clarke, a Peanut Corp. spokesman, in an e-mailed statement. “We have shared with them every record that they have asked for that is in our possession and we will continue to do so.”
Tracking Products
The FDA has visited 1,000 companies that purchased products from Peanut Corp., is tracking shipments, and reviewing records, said
Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
“We expect the list of recalled products to expand,” Sundlof said during the telephone briefing.
Many of the people sickened in the outbreak have been children, said
Robert Tauxe, deputy director, Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases at the CDC. Half have been younger than 16 and 21 percent have been younger than 5.
So far, 108, or 22 percent, of the people who have become ill have been hospitalized. Many of the people affected have told health investigators they ate peanut butter crackers before becoming ill, Tauxe said.
There’s a “strong association” with peanut butter crackers, he said. “Not every one recalls eating these. We don’t think it’s the whole cause.”
Peanut Corp. makes peanut butter sold by distributors to schools, hospitals, elderly care homes and restaurants. The company’s peanut paste is used in other products such as sandwich crackers and granola bars. Peanut butter sold in grocery stores hasn’t been associated with the outbreak.
Violations Notice
The FDA has issued a violation notice against the company based on inspection of the Blakely plant that began on Jan. 9, Rogers said.
The FDA didn’t inspect the Georgia plant during 2007 and 2008, Rogers said. Instead, inspections were carried out by Georgia state officials under contract with the FDA, he said.
Four strains of salmonella have now been linked to the Blakely plant, FDA officials said. Only one of these is believed to be responsible for the illnesses reported so far. Like other forms of salmonella, the strain found in the peanut butter is spread through human or animal droppings.
Lawmaker Critical
The salmonella outbreak and whether the FDA had a role in it are being investigated by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations.
Representative
Bart Stupak, the committee’s chairman, criticized the FDA in a statement today.
“The fact that four different strains of salmonella have been tied to Peanut Butter Corporation of America’s plant and products show not only that the company was not adhering to good manufacturing practices, but also that FDA inspectors were asleep at the switch,” Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement.
Salmonella can cause serious and possibly fatal infections in young children, weak, or elderly people. Healthy people may experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain if infected.