Peanut Butter Recall Report Reveals Long-Standing Unsanitary Process Conditions

I just read the FDA's inspection report on the Peanut Corporation of America's processing plant in Blakely, Georgia and the transcripts of two followup FDA teleconferences. To me, with my microbiology degree and a few years experience in the food processing industry, it is infuriating that any food manufacturer would consider producing food under such conditions. Michael Rogers, of the FDA, merely said the report indicated "the plant was not in compliance with current good manufacturing practices required by the FDA ." My grandmother, in her genteel manner, would have said, "It's enough to gag a maggot." It's certainly enough to make this ex-microbiologist queasy.

Not just one, but three strains of Salmonella were listed in the report, indicating at least three contamination events. Most of the samples were just reported as "no strain identified", so there could be more than three strains. The good news from the FDA teleconference is that only one of the identified strains is involved in the current outbreak.

The plant failed to observe the most basic food processing rule of all, which is to keep raw materials (presumed "dirty") away from finished product. "The raw peanut receipt/staging area, peanut paste tanker line, peanut roasters, and the peanut granule line are housed in the same open room with no segregation", which would allow easy contamination of finished product by dust from the input machinery.

Production equipment and finished product was possibly exposed to leaking rainwater which could have contained pathogens and other unsavory things. "... rain water has been leaking into the firm. ... Totes of finished, roasted product and a roasted nut packaging line are located directly underneath these areas. "

If your "ick" reaction isn't high enough, "the sink located in the peanut butter room is used interchangeably as a point for cleaning hands and utensils and for washing out mops. " Salmonella was cultured from the floor of the building by the inspectors. Bacteria could easily have been transferred from the mops to the utensils, then from the utensils to the production line.

The processor failed to observe rule two, which is if something gets contaminated, which it inevitably will, the plant should shut down and clean the equipment. The report says, "the peanut paste line was not cleaned after the Salmonella Typhimurium was isolated from the peanut paste manufactured on September 26, 2008 ".

The worst part of all is that instead of destroying contaminated product, they shipped it to other food manufacturers and distributors. The report lists 12 instances from the firm's own quality control records of products that "tested positive for Salmonella by a private laboratory. After the firm retested the product and received a negative status, the product was shipped in interstate commerce. "

They knowingly shipped products that were contaminated with a bacteria that is known to cause illness and death. That's the infuriating part. They knew it, and they shipped the products anyway.

Sources:

FDA/CDC Joint Media Teleconference(January 28)

FDA/CDC Joint Media Teleconference(January 27)

Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), Blakely, GA: FDA Form 483 (Inspectional Observations) Jan 9 - 27, 2008