Even As Tests Revealed Contamination, GA Firm Sold 32 Truckloads To Feds For Free School Lunches

[hatrack]

Peanut Corporation of America sold 32 truckloads of roasted peanuts and peanut butter to the federal government for a free-lunch program for poor children even as the company's internal tests showed that its products were contaminated with salmonella bacteria. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture abruptly suspended its contract with the company, which is at the center of an outbreak of salmonella illness that has killed eight people, sickened 575 and triggered one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history.

The fact that a federal agency that shares responsibility for keeping food safe was among the thousands of customers that may have received tainted food from the Blakely, Ga., plant is the latest revelation in a scandal that has exposed an array of failures in the government's systems for keeping deadly pathogens out of the food supply.

Schools in California, Minnesota and Idaho received the suspected peanut products between January and November 2007, said Susan Acker, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department. Federal officials notified the affected schools last week and told them to destroy any uneaten food, but officials said most of it has already been consumed, Acker said. She said the agency is not aware of any illnesses linked to the peanut products it bought.

"This company had no conscience in its production practices, sales and distribution," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said yesterday. "That they would knowingly ship products tainted with salmonella to our nation's children almost defies belief."

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020500743.html

[Jamastiene]

1. That's criminal intent if you ask me.

:wtf:

[shraby]

3. You betcha!! Not only that, but it's the poor children

most at risk because they qualify for free and reduced lunches and they are the ones least likely to seek medical treatment if they got sick from the peanut butter. That's more than criminal that's attempted murder.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Peanut Corporation of America's Company Song

Found a peanut, found a peanut,
Found a peanut just now,
Just now I found a peanut,
Found a peanut just now.

It was rotten, it was rotten,
It was rotten just now,
Just now it was rotten,
It was rotten just now.

Sold it anyway, Sold it anyway,
Sold it anyway just now,
Just now I sold it anyway,
Sold it anyway just now.

[jwirr]

4. Usually we sell these types of things to third world countries.

[emilyg]

5. I would so love to see people in jail.