Peanut Corp. Shipped Product After Finding Salmonella
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 Joes 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 FDAs 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.
Theres a “strong association” with peanut butter crackers, he said. “Not every one recalls eating these. We dont think its the whole cause.”
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 didnt 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 committees chairman, criticized the FDA in a statement today.