Repeated inspections didn’t get the job done.  Nor did regulations governing how to operate a safe food-handling facility.  Building codes didn’t do the job, either.  Instead, it took a widespread salmonella outbreak that made more than 500 people sick to get the attention of the owners and operators of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) plant in Blakely, Georgia, and to make them understand persistent problems exist at the peanut plant they were operating under unsafe, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions.

Since the first signs of salmonella infection appeared in early September 2008, hundreds of people in 43 states and Canada have gotten sick after eating peanut-based products made from ingredients made at this plant.  About half the people sickened thus far are children and at least 100 of them are younger than five years old.  Seven people lost their lives after eating these foods.

For the last three weeks, investigators from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have inspected the plant from top to bottom and examined all sanitation inspection-based documentation generated in the last few years.  Some of their findings are rather shocking.

In-house plant inspectors reported 12 instances of salmonella contamination in 2007 and 2008 but nothing was done to rectify it.  Instead, the product was tested repeatedly until it tested negative for salmonella contamination.  Once negative test results could be achieved, the product was shipped to some of the largest food manufacturers in the nation, for use in the food products that carry their labels.  It is, among other things, illegal to perform repeat tests on a contaminated product in order to finally secure a ‘clean’ product.

Routine cleaning procedures were problematic, according to Michael Rogers, FDA director of field inspections.  In addition to its failure to respond to its own contamination reports, inspectors found mold growing along walls and the ceiling of the plant, dirty work surfaces, and dirt and grease build-up throughout the building.

Pallets of peanut butter ready for shipment were being stored next to supplies of raw peanuts.  Federally mandated procedures for safe food handling require raw materials and finished products to be stored in separate areas so the raw product will not contaminate the finished product.

Construction of the plant itself was found to be inadequate for producing food safely.  In some areas, rust residue threatened food contamination and in others the roof had gaps a foot long.  Air conditioner intake vents had cracks as long as two and a half feet and half an inch wide and some warehouse doors had similar gaps in construction.  All of these openings are large enough to invite rodent infestation.  One of the most common sources of salmonella contamination is animal droppings.

Many of these sanitation violations were documented by inspectors from Georgia’s agriculture department long before the joint FDA/CDC inspection began earlier this month although little if any effort was made to bring the plant up to acceptable standards.

PCA products are shipped to companies such as Kellogg and McKee Foods, where they become ingredients for food products ranging from cookies and crackers to candies, ice creams, sauces, and any number of other items familiar everywhere.  Of the more than 100 individual products under FDA recall at the moment, most of them are crackers and cookies.

Source: NYT