Firm tied to salmonella ran unlicensed Texas plant

[DainBramaged]

Source: washingtonpost.com > Nation > Wires

A peanut processing plant in Texas run by the same 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 was never inspected until after the company fell under investigation by the 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 _ raised 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.

The problem is "not a completely uncommon occurrence," said Cornell University food science professor Joseph Hotchkiss.

The salmonella outbreak was traced to the company's sister plant in Blakely, Ga., where inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and internal records of more than a dozen positive tests for salmonella.

The outbreak so far has resulted in more than 500 reported illnesses, led to an expansive recall and caused as many as eight deaths. The government is working on a criminal investigation in the case.

In Texas, inspector Patrick Moore of the Department of State Health Services was sent to Plainview, in the sparsely populated Texas Panhandle, after salmonella was traced to the company's plant in Georgia. Moore said the Texas plant wasn't licensed with health officials and had never been inspected since it opened in March 2005. Texas requires food manufacturers to be licensed every two years and routinely inspected.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020300127.html

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All because they weren't satisfied making peanuts. Do the math, B* plus State Inspectors instead of the FDA and Texas=incompetence and probably bribery.

[aquart]

1. Can't trust our banks, our food, our....

What, precisely, was the Texas plant making and shipping? And how fast can we get it off the shelves?

[DainBramaged]

2. last paragraph of the article....

The Texas plant blanches, dry roasts, oil-roasts and chops peanuts, then ships them to food companies across the country.

[kestrel91316]

3. Throw the owners/corporate officers in prison, and seize all their assets.

Seize the company. Sell it to the highest bidder, and use the proceeds to fund proper FDA/USDA food inspections.

[unkachuck]

8. China executes corporate killers....

....and we're better than China....

"Throw the owners/corporate officers in prison..."

....eight people are dead; someone needs to be executed!

[Jefferson23]

4. The more we learn about this the worse it gets, thanks again King George.

[depakid]

5. Relying on Texas (or Georgia) to enforce food safety regulations

is like relying on the Catholoic Church to run a women's health clinic.

[Jefferson23]

6. lol, true enough.

[Ian David]

7. And this was Bush's appointee to the USDA Safety Advisory Committee, too. n/t

[bluesmail]

9. Texas? n/t