FDA probes peanut processor linked to Salmonella outbreak

Washington, January 31: Federal health officials have started investigating the salmonella outbreak, which was allegedly initiated at a Georgia peanut plant.

The outbreak sickened more than 500 people, killed at least eight and incited one of the largest food recalls in the history of the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration is working with the U.S. Department of Justice and has started probing the Peanut Corp. of America, after it shipped contaminated products.

"There is a criminal investigation that has been initiated through our office of criminal investigation at the FDA. They have to work through the Department of Justice to develop a case and prosecute, if that's what it comes to," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

However, the officials refused to disclose any further details.

Peanut butter that sold in supermarkets and grocery stores was considered safe. The products, which were found to be affected by the salmonella contamination, were only sold in bulk to schools, hospitals and nursing homes.

But later, the recall was expanded to cover all product items made in the past two years from peanuts processed at the Georgia plant of PCA.

Expressing "deepest and most sincere empathy for those sickened,” the PCA said it was evaluating the situation closely to figure out what exactly happened.

"Our top priority has been — and will continue to be — to ensure the public safety," it said.

The FDA acknowledged that it seized a shipment of the PCA products at the U.S.-Canadian border in April. The products contained fragments of metal and that is when the FDA officials suspected some problem in the peanut production at the Georgia plant.

Before that, the federal food safety inspectors had not visited the plant since 2001. Even during their subsequent visit, they did not look for salmonella.

The reports of salmonella outbreak soon followed, but they were not linked to the peanut products for quite some time and no public warnings were issued, until recently.

Sanitation was found to be compromised at the plant and the company shipped products that had tested positive for salmonella once, but gave negative results on being retested.

"I think the revelations have no doubt been alarming," said Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary. After discovering salmonella in its own testing, a company continues to ship products; it "is beyond disturbing for millions of parents.”

Under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA may ban production at the company until appropriate corrective actions are taken, says Sundlof. Also, criminal and civil penalties could be issued.

The White House has called for stricter supervision of food safety to avoid failure of inspections.