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Salmonella-Linked Peanut Plant Owned Unregulated Texas Plant

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 February 2009, 14:29 CST

It appears that the plant allegedly responsible for the latest massive salmonella outbreak owned and operated a Texas plant that had never been inspected by the US Food and Drug Administration until the company came under recent speculation.

Although no salmonella was discovered at the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Plainview, news of its under-advised facility have sparked new questions about government’s ability to regulate the nation’s food supply.

In Texas health records obtained by the AP, inspector Patrick Moore of the Department of State Heath Services was sent to investigate the company’s plant in Texas only after the company was linked to the outbreak that has sickened more than 500 across the nation.

Moore said the plant had never been inspected since it opened in March 2005.

State law in Texas states that food manufacturers must undergo routine inspections and be licensed every two years.

The FDA relies on state health inspectors to maintain food safety of plants within its boundaries.

“I was not aware this plant was in operation and did not know [what] type of products processed,” Moore said in the AP-obtained report.

Moore’s report notes that the company "was unable to present evidence at the time of the inspection of a current food manufacturers license,”

At the company’s Blakely, Ga.-based plant, health inspectors cited several violations including areas of rust near food, openings in warehouse entryways where rodents could get through and several unlabelled spray bottles.

“If there is a record of habitual violations of food safety standards, the FDA should have initiated strenuous enforcement action,” Tony Corbo, a senior lobbyist with Food & Water Watch, told the New York Times. “This company needed more scrutiny. If this plant was in fact so dirty, they were asking for trouble.”

"We want the public to know that there were regular visits and inspections of the Blakely facility by federal and state regulators in 2008," Peanut Corp of America said in its defense.

"Independent audit and food safety firms also conducted customary unannounced inspections of the Blakely facility in 2008," it said in a statement, noting the plant got an overall superior rating on one visit and, in another, was found to "meet or exceed" audit expectations.

Margaret Glavin, a retired senior FDA official, told AP “there is no reliable database that is regularly updated to aid food inspectors. Some companies are listed multiple times, and others remain on the government's list even after they go out of business.”

“Among the persons with confirmed, reported dates available, illnesses began between September 14, 2008 and January 8, 2009,” the CDC said in a report.

President Obama has criticized the FDA’s handling of food safety in response to the latest outbreak.

As a result, several members of Congress have “proposed an overhaul of the way the FDA works, with one bill being introduced on Wednesday that would separate its food regulatory duties from its oversight of pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter drugs,” according to Reuters.

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On the Net:

• CDC - Investigation Information for Outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium Infections, 2008–2009
• FDA
• Peanut Corp. of America

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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