Members of Congress are already seeking an investigation into the Peanut Corporation of America’s handling of salmonella contamination at its Blakely, GA, plant.
The Washington Post, NY Times, and other media outlets reported today that the operators of the Blakely plant detected the presence of salmonella in product samples at least 12 times between 2007 and 2008 but shipped the ingredients anyway after obtaining negative results on subsequent tests.
At a January 27 press conference, FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials noted that while previous inspections had uncovered problems at the plant, inspectors were unaware of the salmonella contamination because the company was not legally required to share the test results.
On January 28, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D–CT) said she plans to ask the Department of Justice to look into the matter.
“Not only did this company knowingly sell tainted products, it shopped for a laboratory that would provide the acceptable results they were seeking. This behavior represents the worst of our current food safety regulatory system,” DeLauro said.
The calls for an investigation are warranted. But they could sidetrack discussion of another pressing issue: How can Congress provide FDA with the resources it needs to inspect the nation’s food processing facilities? It’s unlikely that FDA would have enough inspectors to examine every facility in the country on a regular basis even if Congress massively overhauled funding, or even if manufacturers paid for all the inspections themselves. Hopefully, someone’s working on an answer.
You can read FDA’s most recent report on the plant here.