FDA: Peanut Plant/Salmonella Scandal (merged x 3 w/updates) M.E.T.

[#98QBKiller]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/28/salmonella.outbreak/index.html

FDA: Peanut plant knew product was tainted with salmonella

• Story Highlights
  
• NEW: Recall expanded to include products from January 2007
  
• FDA: Salmonella strains were found 12 times from 2007 to 2008 at plant in Georgia
  
• Inspectors from the FDA found more contamination this month
  
• More than 300 products using PCA peanut butter, paste have been recalled
  

By Miriam Falco

CNN Medical News Managing Editor

(CNN) -- The maker of peanut butter linked to a nationwide outbreak of salmonella shipped tainted product it knew had tested positive for the bacteria, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

The FDA report said the Peanut Corporation of America's own testing program found strains of salmonella 12 times in 2007 and 2008 at its Blakely, Georgia, plant. The problem does not appear to have been resolved.

When FDA inspectors visited the plant this month, they reported finding still more salmonella contamination.

According to the inspection report, posted on the FDA's Web site, the "firm's own internal microbiological testing" found salmonella in peanut paste, peanut butter, peanut meal, peanut granules and oil-roasted, salted peanuts. Watch what violations occurred at the plant »

However, it added, "After the firm retested the product and received a negative status, the product was shipped."

That's not the way it ought to have been handled, according to one expert. "They were lab shopping," said Tommy Irvin, Georgia's agriculture commissioner. "They were trying to find a way to clear their product, so they can ship their product out," he told CNN. Learn more about food poisoning »

He said proper practices demand that if any food product tests positive for salmonella and another test comes back negative, "you believe the one that is positive."

In a written statement, the company denied accusations it had been "lab shopping" to get a negative test result in order to ship the product.

"PCA uses only two highly reputable labs for product testing and they are widely used by the industry and employ good laboratory practices," the company said. "PCA categorically denies any allegations that the company sought favorable results from any lab in order to ship its products."

But according to Irvin, once salmonella is found in a product, "that lot should be destroyed, but [in this case it] wasn't."

The Georgia Department of Agriculture is working with the FDA on the investigation of the outbreak, which has been linked to the plant.

"The inspection also revealed no steps were taken in terms of cleaning or cross-contamination" after the salmonella was found in the plant, said FDA's director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Dr. Stephen Sundlof.

The company did not clean the production line after Salmonella Typhimurium, the bacterium implicated in the outbreak, was found there last September, according to the FDA report. This is the same type of bacteria found in 502 people who have become ill in 43 states and Canada since September. At least eight deaths have been linked to the outbreak.

Violations also include contamination of plant surfaces and equipment by other microorganisms, the discovery of roaches near production and packaging areas and the inability of the company's ventilation system to prevent the salmonella from contaminating other parts of the plant.

Sundlof said the reported problems indicate the plant deviated from the good manufacturing practices companies are supposed to follow.

The FDA investigation began January 9, shortly after the manufacturer was implicated as a source of the outbreak. The plant produces peanut butter sold to institutions, such as nursing homes and cafeterias, as well as peanut paste, which is used in cookies, crackers, ice cream and pet treats. Watch the salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds »

This month, Peanut Corporation of America began recalling peanut butter and paste produced since July 1. The recall was expanded Wednesday to include products produced since January 1, 2007.

More than 300 products using PCA's peanut paste and peanut butter have already been recalled and the FDA has urged consumers to check the agency's Web site frequently for updates. See a list of recalled products

Federal health officials recommend that consumers throw away any recalled products and not consume any products whose safety cannot be verified.

The American Peanut Council has compiled a list of companies not implicated in the recall on www.peanutsusa.com.

CNN's Saundra Young contributed to this report

[SkinInsite]

A peanut processing plant in Texas run by the Virginia 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.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/03/health/main4771637.shtml

[renaissance]

Dammit, I just wanna know if this new jar of peanut butter I bought is safe.

[HOF44]

Dammit, I just wanna know if this new jar of peanut butter I bought is safe.

They say the jars are safe, it stuff like peanut butter crackers that are contaminated.

[renaissance]

They say the jars are safe, it stuff like peanut butter crackers that are contaminated.

That's what I was thinking. Thank you

[twa]

Dammit, I just wanna know if this new jar of peanut butter I bought is safe.

Define safe;)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/03/earlyshow/health/main4771754.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4771754

CBS:

Tells Jeff Glor He Also Saw Rat Droppings, Roaches, Huge Holes In Roof Of Ga. Facility Being Probed In Salmonella Outbreak

A former employee of the Georgia peanut plant at the center of a criminal investigation in a nationwide salmonella outbreak says he saw a rat dry-roasting in a peanut area.

But he was probably just eating the roaches.

[maxiumone]

Define safe;)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/03/earlyshow/health/main4771754.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4771754

CBS:

But he was probably just eating the roaches.

Got to make the peanut butter crunchy somehow.

[The Sisko]

Critics have been saying for years now that the FDA is way under resourced to adequately protect the food supply. In fact, in recent years they've only been able to inspect some incredibly small percentage of imported foods....about 1% IIRC.

But hey, less government is better right? Don't worry, the market will take care of it.

For those of us who believe that less government is good but too little can lead to tragedy, this type of thing is vindication. Too bad people had to die for us to get it.

[TheGoodBits]

I blame OBAMA! Damn HIM!!!!!!

[twa]

Got to make the peanut butter crunchy somehow.

With added protein and vitamins, sounds like a win-win to me.

[tryfuhl]

lol company is from where I live

[Joe Sick]

But hey, less government is better right? Don't worry, the market will take care of it.

For those of us who believe that less government is good but too little can lead to tragedy, this type of thing is vindication. Too bad people had to die for us to get it.

Exactly. Business self regulation and the price race to the bottom is a bad combination...

[DjTj]

Critics have been saying for years now that the FDA is way under resourced to adequately protect the food supply. In fact, in recent years they've only been able to inspect some incredibly small percentage of imported foods....about 1% IIRC.

But hey, less government is better right? Don't worry, the market will take care of it.

For those of us who believe that less government is good but too little can lead to tragedy, this type of thing is vindication. Too bad people had to die for us to get it.

Self-regulation worked fine in this case. Nobody will ever buy from this plant again. Sure, a few people had to die to get the information to the open market, but sometimes that's the price you pay.

We should take the same approach with the current crisis. Let's just let a few million people lose their jobs, put a couple thousand people out on the streets, and maybe if we're lucky a couple hundred people die. Then the market will learn who the real winners and losers are, and we will all be better off (except for the ones who are dead).

[BigMike619]

Self-regulation worked fine in this case. Nobody will ever buy from this plant again. Sure, a few people had to die to get the information to the open market, but sometimes that's the price you pay.

this sounds so opposite of you. a few people had to die but thats the price you pay. that sounds like something sarge or I would say.

[Commander PK]

This makes me absolutely sick, (no pun intended). They ought to charge this ********** for 1st Degree Murder for every one of those people who died. This is what happens when greed takes over, and all that matters is the bottom line. No matter who or what you hurt. Read the whole article for the all the wonderful details. Imagine if one of your family members had died, or been made seriously ill by simply eating Peanut Butter. Dispicable

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29138430?GT1=43001

Salmonella found at Ga. plant as early as 2006

Peanut plant manager pleads the fifth,

Owner Stewart Parnell refused to testify at hearing; 9 have now died

Feb. 11: The president and plant manager of the Peanut Corporation of America, who was subpoenaed to testify about the deadly salmonella outbreak that has claimed at least nine lives, refused to testify before Congress Wednesday. NBC's Tom Costello reports.

Nightly News

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

updated 7:13 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 11, 2009

WASHINGTON - See the jar, the congressman challenged Stewart Parnell, holding up a container of the peanut seller's products and asking if he'd dare eat them. Parnell pleaded the Fifth.

The owner of the peanut company at the heart of the massive salmonella recall refused to answer the lawmaker's questions — or any others — Wednesday about the bacteria-tainted products he defiantly told employees to ship to some 50 manufacturers of cookies, crackers and ice cream.

"Turn them loose," Parnell had told his plant manager in an internal e-mail disclosed at the House hearing. The e-mail referred to products that once were deemed contaminated but were cleared in a second test last year.

Summoned by congressional subpoena, the owner of Peanut Corp. of America repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on the salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 600 people, may be linked to nine deaths — the latest reported in Ohio on Wednesday — and resulted in one of the largest product recalls of more than 1,900 items.

"Did you or any officials ever place food products into inner state commerce you knew to be contaminated with salmonella?" asked Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectively decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. Constitution," said Parnell.

Moments later, as Parnell sat stiffly, his hands folded in his lap at the witness table, as Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., held up a clear jar of his company's products wrapped in crime-scene tape and asked if he would eat them.

Again, Parnell invoked the Fifth Amendment.

After he repeated the statement several times, lawmakers dismissed him from the hearing.

‘Total systemic breakdown’

Shortly after Parnell's appearance, a lab tester told the panel that the company discovered salmonella at its Blakely, Ga., plant as far back as 2006. Food and Drug Administration officials told lawmakers more federal inspections could have helped prevent the outbreak.

Timeline: Salmonella outbreak

Sept. 8 - Jan. 2

Salmonella outbreak begins and spreads. Most people were sickened after Oct. 1.

Dec. 21

Shirley Mae Almer, 72, dies at a nursing home in Brainerd, Minn. At the time, the cause of her death was unknown.

Jan. 8

CDC announces it is collaborating with public health officials to investigate a salmonella outbreak in multiple states.

Jan. 9

Outbreak spreads to 42 states.

Jan. 10

King Nut Companies issues a voluntary recall of peanut butter.

Jan. 12

Outbreak spreads to 43 states.

Jan. 13

Health officials urge nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out King Nut brand peanut butter linked to the salmonella outbreak.

The CDC says the tainted peanut butter may have contributed to three deaths and 410 confirmed cases.

Jan. 15

Kellogg recalls peanut butter crackers.

Jan. 16

The FDA announces its investigators have traced the source of salmonella outbreak to a plant in Blakely, Ga., owned by Peanut Corporation of America.

Jan. 20

Number of those sickened by the illness climbs to 485.

A Vermont couple whose 7-year-old son became sick after eating peanut butter crackers files a lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America.

Jan. 23

Trader Joe's, General Nutrition Centers Inc., Pet Smart and NutriSystem are among the retailers who recall peanut butter products. More than 125 items are recalled in all.

Jan. 25

Minnesota Department of Health reports a woman in her 80s has died of salmonella, bringing the total number of reported deaths to seven.

Jan. 26

Relatives of Shirley Mae Almer, the 72-year-old who died of salmonella on Dec. 21, sue the operators of Peanut Corporation of America.

Jan. 27

Federal health officials announce the Peanut Corporation of America has a history of problems , and had shipped products in the past that the companies own tests had found positive for salmonella.

Jan. 28

PCA voluntarily recalls all peanuts and peanut products processed in its Blakely, Ga., plant since Jan. 1, 2007. The expanded recall includes all dry- and oil-roasted peanuts, granulated peanuts, peanut meal, peanut butter and peanut paste. The company stops producing all peanut products at the Blakely plant.

As of 9 p.m. EDT, 529 persons infected with salmonella typhimurium are reported from 43 states, according to the CDC. Additionally, one ill person is reported from Canada.

At least 431 peanut butter-containing products are recalled by 54 companies using ingredients produced by the PCA facility after July 1, 2008.

Jan. 29

A combination of epidemiological analysis and laboratory testing by state officials in Minnesota and Connecticut, the FDA, and the CDC enable the FDA to confirm that the sources of the salmonella outbreak are peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the PCA at its Blakely, Ga., processing plant.

The Ohio Department of Health says two containers of peanut butter taken from a central Ohio nursing home have tested positive for salmonella.

Jan. 30

Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's food safety center, says the Justice Department will investigate possible criminal violations by the PCA processing plant, assisted by FDA investigators.

Feb. 2

President Barack Obama promises a comprehensive review of the FDA. The salmonella outbreak prompts voluntary recalls by makers of more than 800 products. The recalls reach into Canada and Europe.

According to the CDC, 550 cases in 43 states are tallied, with the most recent reported illness beginning on Jan. 17, 2009.

Feb. 3

The Associated Press learns that a peanut processing plant in Plainview, Texas, run by the PCA has operated for years uninspected and unlicensed by government health officials.

Feb. 5

The U.S. Agriculture Department suspends PCA from participating in government contract programs for at least a year. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack removes Stewart Parnell, PCA president, from the USDA's Peanut Standards Board.

Federal officials say that nearly 168,000 emergency meal kits sent to Kentucky after an ice storm were recalled more than two weeks earlier.

According to the CDC, 575 cases are counted in 43 states with the most recent reported illness beginning on Jan. 22, 2009.

Feb. 6

The Agriculture Department says that it shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to free school-lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007 under a contract with PCA.

"We appear to have a total systemic breakdown," said Stupak, D-Mich.

Cookies, candy, crackers, granola bars and other products made with contaminated peanuts have been shipped to schools, stores and nursing homes, prompting the massive recall. The government raided the company's Georgia plant on Monday, and Peanut Corp. closed its Plainview, Texas, facility. Food producers in most states are not required to alert health regulators if internal tests show possible contamination at their plants.

A federal criminal investigation is under way.

The House panel released e-mails obtained by its investigators showing Parnell ordered products identified with salmonella to be shipped and quoting his complaints that tests discovering the contaminated food were "costing us huge $$$$$."

In mid-January, after the national outbreak was tied to his company, Parnell told Food and Drug Administration officials that he and his company "desperately at least need to turn the raw peanuts on our floor into money."

In a separate message to his employees, Parnell insisted that the outbreak did not start at his plant, calling that a misunderstanding by the media and public health officials. "No salmonella has been found anywhere else in our products, or in our plants, or in any unopened containers of our product," he said in a Jan. 12 e-mail.

In another exchange, Parnell complained to a worker after they notified him that salmonella had been found in more products.

"I go thru this about once a week," he wrote in a June 2008 e-mail. "I will hold my breath .......... again."

Last year, when a final lab test found salmonella, Parnell expressed concern about the cost and delays in moving his products.

"We need to discuss this," he wrote in an Oct. 6 e-mail to Sammy Lightsey, his plant manager. "The time lapse, beside the cost is costing us huge $$$$$ and causing obviously a huge lapse in time from the time we pick up peanuts until the time we can invoice."

Lightsey also invoked his right not to testify when he appeared alongside Parnell before the subcommittee.

‘I want to see jail time’

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) asked victims’ family members what they want to ask the Centers for Disease Control, United States Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the states’ health departments.

“I would like to ask why anyone would not want to have mandatory recall. Why do we leave it up to the company?" asked Jeffrey Almer, whose mother, Shirley Mae Almer, died Dec. 21, several months after the outbreak was first known about. The 72-year-old was in a Brainerd, Minn., nursing home recovering from cancer treatment when her daughter served her peanut butter toast.

"Their behavior is criminal, in my opinion. I want to see jail time," said Almer.

Darlene Cowart of JLA USA testing service said the company contacted her in November 2006 to help control salmonella discovered in the plant.

Cowart said she made one visit to the plant at the company's request and pointed out problems with peanut roasting and storage of peanuts that could have led to the salmonella. She testified that Peanut Corp. officials said they believed the salmonella came from organic Chinese peanuts.

An FDA inspection report had placed the earliest presence of salmonella in June 2007, the first of a dozen times the company received private lab results identifying the bacteria in its products.

Cowart said she believed Peanut Corp. stopped using her company for lab tests because it identified salmonella too many times.

The company's internal records show it "was more concerned with its bottom line than the safety of its customers," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Charles Deibel, president of Deibel Laboratories Inc., said his company was among those that tested Peanut Corp. products and notified the Georgia plant that salmonella was found. Peanut Corp. sold the products anyway, according to an FDA inspection report.

"What is virtually unheard of is for an entity to disregard those results and place potentially contaminated products into the stream of commerce," Deibel said.

Deibel said he hopes the crisis leads to a greater role for FDA in overseeing food safety and providing more guidance to food makers.

The 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.

The investigation is starting to zero in on the question of who was responsible.

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

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

© 2009 msnbc.com

[TheGoodBits]

:doh: Who knew the scope of this was so huge? Already 9 dead and 600 sick...

btw: you might want to properly format your thread title

[Vicious]

Oh it's definitely murder.

[DjTj]

Merge: http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?t=279665

and merge: http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?t=279353

As I said in that thread, you can't blame this on greed. The market will take care of this problem, since nobody will ever buy from this plant again. Sure, a few people had to die to get the information out to consumers, but sometimes that's just the price you pay.

We should really take the same approach with the current financial crisis. Just let a few million people lose their jobs, put a couple thousand people out on the streets, and maybe if we're lucky a couple hundred people will die from starvation. Then the market will learn who the real winners and losers are, and we will all be better off (except for the ones who are dead).

:paranoid:

[AsburySkinsFan]

Nice DjTj...I'll wait to hear that proposal from my Senator just before they remove him from Senate leadership.

I listened to some of the guy's testimony (or lack thereof) before Congress yesterday and as he continually invoked his 5th amendment rights it became increasingly clear that when someone does that you can pretty much accuse him of anything and make him sound guilty.

Congressman: "Sir, why did you knowingly ship tainted product?"

Idiot: "I plead the 5th on the grounds that I might incriminate myself."

Congressman: "Sir, why did you tell your employees to ship tainted product?"

Idiot: "I plead the 5th on the grounds that I might incriminate myself."

Congressman: "Sir, why did you physically assault your wife last night?"

Idiot: "I plead the 5th on the grounds that I might incriminate myself."

Congressman: "Sir, when did you start taking bribes from the mafia?"

Idiot: "I plead the 5th on the grounds that I might incriminate myself."

[HighOnHendrix]

This tainted peanut thing is like American Idol: it just won't go away.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29619415/

Salmonella cases: Half still come from crackers

Recalled foods continue to sicken consumers, worried health officials say

By JoNel Aleccia

Health writer

msnbc.com

updated 8:13 a.m. ET, Fri., March. 13, 2009

Bill Rector of Blaine, Wash., didn’t know about a nationwide recall of peanut butter products until he and his 3-year-old daughter already had been hospitalized with salmonella poisoning.

“That's the first we heard of it,” he said.

But that was back in January, when the 32-year-old meat cutter said he and his toddler were sickened by Austin Quality Foods crackers linked to a still-widening food poisoning outbreak. Since then, word has spread, he said.

Or so you’d think.

Nearly two months after the initial recalls, and despite massive publicity about the salmonella scare linked to faulty practices at a Georgia peanut processing plant, federal health officials are worried that some consumers still haven’t gotten the message.

About half of the new cases of confirmed salmonella infection continue to show up in people who ate Austin or Keebler peanut butter crackers manufactured by the Kellogg Co., according to officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That includes illnesses that began as recently as Feb. 13, long after retailers and health officials thought they’d issued adequate warnings.

“That’s somebody who got sick even after the news got out,” said Dr. Robert Tauxe, chief of the CDC’s foodborne disease program. “Not everybody gets the message — and not everybody acts on it.”