PCA is no more

Back on January 8 I began talking about the salmonella outbreak that has since been linked back to the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) and specifically to their Blakely Georgia plant. As of this past Friday, February 13, the PCA is no more.

They officially filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Virginia on Friday. Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidates all of the company’s assets and distributes that money to the company’s creditors. That’s good news for the creditors and in my opinion good news for us. We won’t have to worry about any more food coming from PCA.

In a story I read this morning it was reported that officials had also shut down the Texas plant this week because products tested there had positive results for salmonella too. When health officials went in that plant they found rodents, feces and feathers in the ceiling above the production area. Because no inspections had been made by the state there previously, ALL products ever produced there have been recalled and are being destroyed.

To date the salmonella outbreak that has been traced back to the Georgia plant has sickened over 630 people and possibly caused nine deaths. There are over 2000 products on the recall list.

I’m once again left wondering.

How many plants are producing food but not being inspected by states?
How many foods have I eaten since March of 2005 (the date the Texas PCA plant opened) that could have possibly contained peanuts or peanut products?
How lucky am I to have not gotten ill?
How many illnesses were actually salmonella but never treated so they haven’t been documented?
How many people work in plants that are nasty?
Don’t they know people are eating that food?
Don’t they care?
Why don’t they do anything to change it?
Why?

FDA Product Recall List

An end, an Elvis and a loss

Of course you know the first story that caught my eye while reading my morning news was about PCA (Peanut Corp of America). Federal officials now say PCA intentionally sent out products that were contaminated with salmonella. I’ve been trying to tell people but I guess those particular people don’t read my blog.

The story also said that the USDA was one of PCA’s biggest clients. While USDA officials did regularly visit the plant in Blakely Georgia, they were not trained in food safety and basically did no more than read reports while they were there. This week the USDA ended their business connection to PCA. Peanut butter from that plant was sent out for use in free lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho.

As of today the salmonella outbreak has caused 575 illnesses in 43 states and at least 8 deaths. There are now 1679 products on the recall list.

The second story that caught my eye today came out of Florida and involves Elvis. That’s really what caught my eye. The first line of the story read “Elvis has left the vehicle.” I had a giggle and just had to read the whole story.

The 46 year old man named Elvis Alonzo Barrett racked up quite a few traffic violations. More than 50 actually. All in the same day.

Apparently his license had been suspended and he panicked when officers tried to pull him over. Police chased him during which time he ran red lights, crashed into a fence and into another car. He received tickets for everything from possession of a crack pipe all the way down to not wearing his seat belt.

The last thing I really paid attention to before starting my daily blogs was my Dead or Alive feed. James Whitmore has died at the age of 87 from lung cancer. He was an actor. He appeared in the films The Asphalt Jungle, Give ‘em Hell, Harry, and many others. My favorite movie that he performed in was The Shawshank Redemption.

In case you missed it

I’ve been ranting now for a couple of weeks about the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) and their Blakely Georgia plant. I’m sorry to tell you that I’m not done ranting yet. And now Washington has joined me on my rant.

Lawmakers met today to discuss the issue and they are upset. They wanted to know how food makers and state health inspectors are allowed to keep negative test results to themselves. And yes, that’s true. Federal laws do not require companies or state officials to report their findings to the federal government. They don’t have to say one word. They have even gotten away with operating a plant that the government is unaware exists. Right here in Texas the PCA owned a plant that was not licensed, registered or inspected for four years. They only discovered that plant after this outbreak.

One senator (Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democrat-Vermont) was quoted in the AP story as saying he’d “like to see some people go to jail”. Well welcome to my world. Why are you so late?

The list of recalled products is growing. According to the AP story it has passed 1000 products now. I couldn’t possibly list them here, but if you’d like to check it (I know I did) you can click here.

Thanks to the Electronic Freedom of Information Act we are entitled to view the records from the inspections that were made by the FDA after the discovery of salmonella in PCA products. I read every word of it. If you’d like to read it yourself you can click here but I’ll give you a summary. (Note that it’s a PDF file and Adobe Reader will be required to view it.)

Let me start out by saying it’s disgusting. The way that this plant was run and maintained, or rather not maintained, is just pathetic.

Salmonella was found and documented in 12 different instances. But that’s actually not the worst part of the report.

The line that the Salmonella Typhimurium (the strain of salmonella that is making everyone ill right now) was found on was not cleaned after the discovery of the bacteria. To make that worse the company continued to manufacture peanut products using that line all the way up until the FDA came in to inspect the plant on January 9. After people had died.

The roaster that was supposed to wipe out any microbiological contamination was set up improperly. The temperature was not set hot enough to kill the salmonella and the belt that moved the peanuts through the roaster was set to the wrong speed not allowing the roaster enough time to kill the salmonella. Oh but it gets worse.

Raw product was stored next to product that was ready to be packed up. There were 2000 pound containers sitting next to each other that were impossible to tell apart. Plus those containers were within 15 feet of a crack in the floor where salmonella was found.

Salmonella was also found on the cooler floor just 3 feet away from finished products and mold was found on the cooler’s walls and ceiling. They said the fans in the cooler were leaking water and pallets of finished product were sitting directly underneath that unit. The ceiling in the entire plant leaked either air conditioner ‘water’ or rain water and products were below all the places leaks occurred.

Worst of all it says that the day they first went into the plant there was a build up of product residue on all of the equipment (grinders, hoppers, and the line) that was allowed to remain there and product continued being produced around it. That there was a “slimy black-brown residue” on a conveyer belt and that pieces of a yellow & black caution sign were flaking off into products.

It also mentions several other things (holes in the ceiling and roaches for two) but honestly I’m just way too grossed out now to continue telling you about it. I’m just stunned. I’m almost stunned speechless. That’s hard to do.

I’m glad the PCA and their dirty ways have been brought to the attention of Washington legislators. I hope they are able to find PCA guilty of something criminal. I know they are criminals. I’m not actually as worried about that part of it as much now. Now what I’m worried about is how many other plants are out there doing business in the exact same way PCA was; especially food manufacturers. Just what am I supposed to eat? Is any of it safe?

Who’s in charge here?

Since the beginning of the present salmonella outbreak, I’ve been bringing you news on it. I’ve provided you with links to information on the outbreak. I’ve provided you with lists of recalled products. I’ve done this for two reasons. One, it’s important. And two, I’m mad.

My anger has tripled this morning. Maybe even quadrupled. I’m pretty mad. If you were someone that saw me in person, you would probably turn around and move away from me as fast as possible once you saw the look on my face. I’m truly that angry today.

Reading my morning news stories I came across yet another story on the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA). Imagine that. The story said that federal health officials have now officially opened a criminal investigation of the plant. Yesterday. Well, it’s about time.

I’m not just mad at the PCA. I’m also mad at the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). It has now been revealed that the FDA hasn’t been to the Blakely Georgia plant since 2001. Yes, I am aware that it’s presently 2009. Maybe now you see what my anger is based on.

To make matters worse, the FDA did not go into the plant because of the salmonella. They went because a shipment of peanuts that originated at the PCA plant were stopped and refused at the Canadian border because it contained metal shavings. That’s when they thought they might need to go into the plant. Don’t worry that it’s been 8 years since any federal inspectors were in the plant. The PCA had their own inspectors, they should be fine. No need to worry about them. Yeah, right.

Then when the FDA finally did go into the plant they didn’t check for anything except metal. No check for salmonella. Why would they worry about that? It’s not like there was JUST ANOTHER CASE OF PEANUT BUTTER SALMONELLA POISONING A COUPLE YEARS AGO. That doesn’t matter.

My main problem is why did the FDA allow a company that sold food products for the general public’s consumption to use their own inspectors? Why didn’t they insist on making regular inspections? I worked in restaurants for 25 years and I can’t tell you how many health inspectors I saw. They popped in unannounced and checked everything under the roof at least once every month. All those individual restaurants were feeding was whatever town I happened to be living in at the time. We weren’t shipping food out all over the country. But we had to meet certain standards and if we didn’t we were closed immediately and not allowed to reopen until the problem was fixed. How was this plant that now has over 430 products on the recall list allowed to continue producing those products and worse yet, shipping them out for us to eat? For us to feed to our children.

According to PCA company documents the original lab they hired to test their products found at least 12 cases of salmonella in the plant. PCA then turned around and hired another company that tested the products and found no salmonella so they shipped the products out. I’m sorry but that’s just crap. If the first test was positive, in my mind there is no need for a second test. And by using a different company to ensure a different result makes me think they were acting in a criminal manner.

In a PCA media statement they said “It is because of our commitment to our customers and consumers that PCA has taken extraordinary measures to identify and recall all products that have been identified as presenting a potential risk.”

I think the only thing PCA is committed to is making money. They haven’t taken any extraordinary measures. The only reason they are doing anything now is because people have died. They blatantly sent out products that they had been told were a danger to people. They chose to ignore basic food handling procedures. They didn’t even bother to clean their plant. When FDA inspectors recently visited the plant they found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and “numerous other sanitation problems.” Commitment to our customers. What a joke.

My hope is PCA will now go out of business. I want them to never again produce anything for us to eat. I also hope the people that worked at that plant are thoroughly educated in food safety and any of them that made the decisions as to whether or not sell those contaminated products should receive jail time. What they did was criminal; they should be treated as such.

The list is still growing for recalled peanut products

The Peanut Corp. of America has been shut down. At least for the time being. As of today more than 500 people have become ill and it is believed that 8 people have died from salmonella poisoning originating in the Blakely Georgia plant.

The company announced that they are recalling all products produced in their plant as far back as January 1, 2007. Considering they provide peanut products (including peanut butter, peanut paste, peanut meal, granulated peanuts and whole roasted peanuts) for hundreds of products I’m pretty worried about it. The peanut products are included in ice creams, cakes, crackers, sauces and even dog treats.

To make matters worse, at least in my opinion, FDA inspectors previously found salmonella in the plant 12 times but the plant never stopped production. According to the story I read, the contaminated production lines that the salmonella was discovered on weren’t even cleaned. That’s just negligent.

Georgia’s agriculture commissioner wants a criminal investigation of the company. I totally agree with him. The FDA says it’s too early for that and they want to finish their investigation first. Whatever. It’s obvious to me that the plant ignored basic food safety and shipped out products that they knew weren’t safe.


From the FDA website:

FDA and CDC recommendations for consumers include:

* Do not eat products that have been recalled and throw them away in a manner that prevents others from eating them.
* To determine if commercially-prepared or manufactured peanut butter/peanut paste-containing products (such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream) are subject to recall, consumers are urged first to visit FDA’s website and check the searchable database of recalled products.
* For information on products containing peanut butter from companies not reporting recalls, consumers may wish to consult the company’s website or call the toll-free number listed on most packaging. Information consumers may receive from the companies has not been verified by the FDA.
* If consumers cannot determine if their peanut butter, peanut butter/peanut paste-containing products or institutionally-served peanut butter contains PCA peanut butter/peanut paste, FDA recommends that they do not consume those products.
* Persons who think they may have become ill from eating peanut butter are advised to consult their health care providers.


That cinches the deal for me. I’ve mentioned before my lack of trust in other people preparing my food. It’s totally gone now. I’ll be making everything myself. If things keep going the way they are these days, I’ll be growing my own food too. And now I’m worried about my mother’s dog. I wonder if the treats she has in a jar on her counter were made from products from that Blakely plant? I’m going to have to give her a call. I don’t want her one remaining baby becoming ill because my mother decided she was a good girl and deserved a biscuit. That would really suck.

On the web:

Peanut plant problem forces fresh recall

The FDA page on recalled products - main page

The FDA list of recalled products

Little Debbie snacks now added to list of recalled products

From the Little Debbie website:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 18, 2009 — 7 p.m. EST

MCKEE FOODS CORPORATION ANNOUNCES VOLUNTARY NATIONWIDE RECALL OF LITTLE DEBBIE® PEANUT BUTTER TOASTY AND PEANUT BUTTER CHEESE SANDWICH CRACKERS BECAUSE OF POSSIBLE HEALTH RISK

COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. – McKee Foods Corporation today announced a voluntary recall of two varieties of peanut butter sandwich crackers because the products have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The two sandwich crackers are:

• Little Debbie® Peanut Butter Toasty sandwich crackers — all sizes.

• Little Debbie® Peanut Butter Cheese sandwich crackers — all sizes.

Products impacted by the recall were produced on or after July 1, 2008, and include all sizes, weights and packages.

The Little Debbie® Cheddar on Cheese sandwich cracker is not affected by this action. No other Little Debbie® products are involved in this recall.

McKee Foods does not purchase peanut paste or peanut butter from PCA (Peanut Corp. of America), and therefore, no other Little Debbie® products containing peanut butter are affected by this action.

Consumers who have purchased the recalled products are urged to discard the crackers but retain the freshness code and contact Consumer Affairs.

Little Debbie Consumer Services:

1-800-522-4499

Not my cookies too?!?

I wrote about a week ago about the peanut butter salmonella outbreak that is causing illness all over the country. That has now been expanded to include all peanut products. Officials have tracked the salmonella back to a Georgia plant that provides peanuts to 85 food companies including Kellogg.

Keebler cookies have been pulled from shelves as a precaution and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is no longer just a bulk peanut butter issue. They are now looking at all products that contain peanuts and peanut paste including baked goods containing peanuts.

The Blakely Georgia plant is owned by Peanut Corp. of America and provides peanuts to 85 different companies. Peanut Corp. has recalled 21 lots of peanut butter that they believe to be the culprit but some companies, such as Kellogg’s, have pulled all their products that contain peanuts from store shelves. Kellogg also pulled their Austin peanut butter sandwich crackers in addition to the Keebler cookies.

Officially there have been over 450 cases of salmonella illness and six deaths from this outbreak. An elderly North Carolina man died yesterday from the same strain of salmonella that has been found in the offending foods.

Four people have died in Minnesota and Virginia (two in each state) and one person has died in Idaho. Four of those five people were elderly. Food borne illnesses are generally worse in the elderly, young, pregnant and people who have reduced immune systems.

I personally am glad I haven’t had anything with peanuts in it for a while now. At the beginning of the outbreak, it was just coincidental that I hadn’t eaten peanut products but now that it’s been in the news, I’ve purposely avoided them. I suffer from Graves Disease which is an autoimmune disease. I just can’t take that chance.

While I don’t expect people to cut all peanut products out of their lives, I do think at this time it would be prudent to check all your packages for peanut products and specifically for who produced those peanuts and if it was the Peanut Corp. of America. 85 companies produce a lot of products. And many products either contain peanuts or were cooked in peanut oil and people are unaware of it unless they have a peanut allergy.

I have been known to enjoy a Keebler cookie on occasion however and knowing that Kellogg was worried enough to pull them from the shelves has me scared. The only upside that I can see from this outbreak is the companies will be more aware of the situation and hopefully do more to test their products BEFORE they are sent out to the public.