This is outrageous, if the Peanut Company of America knew its products contained salmonella, how come they didnt shut down its lines and clean everything. Has greed overcome any sense of corporate responsibility, dont they care how many people they kill with salmonella which could have been prevented, are these outbreaks the norm now.



"...The Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) knew that its peanut products were potentially contaminated with salmonella before distributing them, US health officials said yesterday...."



http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Financi...inated-says-FDA



"...The US food plant responsible for a widespread food poisoning outbreak knowingly shipped contaminated peanut butter and had mold growing on its ceilings and walls, US health officials said..."





http://health.yahoo.com/news/afp/ushealthfood_20090129004852.html



"...Federal regulators charge that the company responsible for salmonella-tainted peanut butter shipped products it knew were contaminated. The bacterial infection has sickened 501 people in 43 states since September and may be linked to eight deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).



The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that on 12 occasions in 2007 and 2008, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) sent out peanut butter and peanut paste (ground roasted peanuts used in baked goods and candies sold in supermarkets) even though it knew there was salmonella in the ingredients or finished products, officials said yesterday during a press briefing ...



Rogers added that PCA didn’t take steps to clean its Blakely, Ga., plant or to reduce the chance that the tainted products would contaminate other products....



FDA Director of Food Safety Stephen Sundlof said at the press conference that it's "a violation of the law" to ship contaminated products. "It's inconceivable that the FDA or the state of Georgia allowed a plant like this to operate," says Seattle personal-injury attorney Bill Marler.. "This company ... got positive tests and shipped it in any event. If that’s not criminal behavior, I don’t know what is....."





http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=126172



"...The FDA also says the Georgia plant took no steps to improve the cleaning or manufacturing methods after salmonella was found in it's plant. The FDA says that is a clear violation of the law..."

http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-lisalm286014611jan28,0,5989227.story

http://www.cafemom.com/dailybuzz/healthy...bout_Salmonella



This is getting to be a reoccuring issue, as there was problem with meat in cattle having Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), widely referred to as mad cow disease. The E. coli out break in lettuce, and in commercially bagged spinach, and in white onions at a Taco Bell which tested positive for E. coli, the salmonella in Peter Pan peanut butter or Great Value peanut and ConAgra's Banquet and its generic store-brand chicken and turkey pot pies, and now in any commercially sold peanut butter from PCA.



People are needlessly dying because they couldnt take a few simple precautions and clean their facilities and do some real testing to find the source or cause of the problem, are they so uncaring and heartless that they look at profit above people. I dont think they should let PCA continue as a company, the FDA should shut them down for good...

Richard,

It seems you're implying the company is responsible for not acting on the information - much like Israel's failure to act upon the light given.

And these are further calls to raise our own food.

One thing for certain, it is a call to boycott such companies that knowingly do such a thing, which could be equivalent to shutting them down.

Maple Leaf is really suffering here in Canada over what has happened to them, and, as far as I know, they didn't knowingly do it.

When I worked at the Little Debbie bakery at college, we would shut the line down instantly if we found any contamination. Many times we discarded perfectly good dough if guality control even suspected a problem and they tested it constantly, so PCA had to have known.

As for growing your own food, thats why I got my farm....

I buy some of products that may have been affected indirectly, so my wife is going through them, checking the ingredients carefully...

Products may contain unlisted ingredients.

Thats true, if you see 'Inert Materials' that literaly means any rocks, cockroad, or other bugs that came with the peanuts or burlap sacks that went through the ovens. Dont ask me how I know...