The American Trial Lawyers Association

During the Bush years, the FDA was stacked with industry hacks who did little, if anything, to benefit consumers. Instead, they allowed dangerous products to reach the market, harmful prescription drugs to be approved without proper testing, and imported food to remain uninspected. Now this same FDA is claiming that they did all that they could to prevent the current peanut butter-salmonella outbreak. From ABC News:


Federal health officials are defending their handling of the nationwide salmonella outbreak, telling Congress they had been hot on the trail of a Georgia processor even before they were certain that peanuts were to blame for hundreds of illnesses.


The Food and Drug Administration "began its investigation prior to having a strong epidemiological link to a particular food," Stephen Sundlof, head of the agency's food safety center, said in testimony prepared for delivery to the Senate Agriculture Committee.


The first signs of the outbreak were detected in November by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But disease detectives initially suspected chicken was the culprit in clusters of salmonella infections that states were reporting.


Lawmakers, however, may not be reassured. They are concerned about the state of the national food safety system, a collaboration between the FDA, CDC and authorities in each state. As the list of recalled items containing peanut products surpasses 1,000, lawmakers are vowing to press for stronger food safety laws and more money for inspections.


The Peanut Corp. plant in Blakely, Ga., which produces a tiny share of U.S. peanut products, is being blamed. Authorities say the facility shipped peanut butter, paste and other products that had tested positive for salmonella. The company retested, got a negative reading, and shipped the products.


A criminal investigation is under way. The company has denied any wrongdoing and said Wednesday that its Blakely plant had received regular visits and inspections from state and federal authorities in 2008 and had gotten a "superior" rating from an independent inspection.


For the full story, click here.

Labels: Consumer Safety, FDA, Outbreak, Peanut Butter, Product Safety, Recall, Salmonella

Over the weekend, the FDA released a fresh wave of recalls in the continuing saga of the tainted peanut butter product case. As noted previously, the source of the contamination comes from a single processing plant in Georgia - The Peanut Corporation of America. But what you may not have known, unless you picked up a copy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, is that Stewart Parnell, the president of Peanut Corp., actually serves on an advisory board that works with the US Department of Agriculture to set the quality standards for peanut butter and related products. Here's some more on the story from The Oregonian:


The latest recalls by 25 companies listing dozens of items include Walgreen's chocolate candy with peanuts, Best Brands peanut butter cookie dough and Hain Celestial's frozen pad Thai dinners, including one made for Trader Joe's.


On Saturday, Harry and David of Medford joined the recall, pulling Olympia Delight Trail Mix products, and Berkeley, Ca.-based Clif Bar and Co. pulled eight more of its protein bars.


The recall has reached a fever pitch since it was expanded to include all products - from roasted peanuts to peanut butter -- from Peanut Corporation of America's plant at Blakely, Ga., where Food and Drug Administration investigators found two strains of salmonella and evidence that on 12 occasions in 2007 and 2008 the company sold food even after it had tested positive for salmonella.


Although Peanut Corp. sold items to about 77 companies in the U.S., many of them in turn resold shipments, reaching about 1,000 distributors and manufacturers all together.


As the drumbeat of recalls continues, health departments across the country have confirmed new cases of salmonella poisoning. More than 530 people have been sickened, with nearly 30 new cases popping up in the past week.


For the full story, click here.

Labels: Consumer Safety, Peanut Butter, Product Safety, Recall, Salmonella

As fear increases over the salmonella threat in peanut butter products, so is the list of items that the FDA is warning us to avoid. According to the FDA, jars of peanut butter are ok (for now), but products containing peanut butter paste could pose a threat.



According to news reports, the contaminated peanut butter comes from a single plant in Georgia, which is run by the Peanut Corporation of America. Stores across the country, including the retail giant Wal-Mart, are yanking products off of their shelves that could potentially pose a risk to consumers. Crackers, ice cream, cookies - any products that contain the paste are listed as a risk by the FDA.



So far, at least 6 people have died, and more than 500 have become ill from ingesting the contaminated product. At least 43 states have reported some form of illness. For more info on the story, check out MSNBC's coverage here, and the Washington Post has a great article here.

Labels: Consumer Safety, Paste, Peanut Butter, Product, Recall, Salmonella, Wal-Mart