No End in Sight for Peanut Product Recalls

ABC News’ Lisa Stark reports: They keep appearing in my e-mail inbox — more recall notices linked to the salmonella outbreak blamed on peanut products.

It’s certainly unusual to have additional recalls more than two months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first traced the salmonella outbreak to contaminated peanut butter made by the Peanut Corporation of America.

Yet the recall continues to expand with no end in sight. The Food and Drug Administration told me today that 3,491 products made by 275 different companies have been recalled. The companies range from big names like Kellogg’s to small firms that few have heard of.

The recall now covers peanuts and peanut products from two PCA plants (one in Georgia, the other in Texas). In tracing where those products have gone, the FDA has contacted more than 14,000 firms along the distribution chain. PCA would sell to one company, that firm would sell to another company that would then sell to another company. You get the idea.

The FDA’s Michael Herndon says: "This is a very active and dynamic situation." The recalled products, including peanut butter and peanut paste, are "common ingredients in cookies, crackers, cereal, candy, ice cream, pet treats and other foods.”

This is one of the largest food recalls ever. It’s even high on the radar screen of the president, given first daughter Sasha’s passion for peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. President Obama used his most recent radio address to announce the formation of a group that will advise him on how to upgrade our food-safety laws, adding, "No parent should have to worry their child is going to get sick from their lunch. "

And today, Georgia is on tap to become the first state to tighten food-safety laws after the salmonella fiasco. The Georgia House and Senate have unanimously passed legislation that would require food processors to tell the state if tests turn up any food contamination. That information must be turned over within 24 hours.

This comes after federal investigators found that the Blakely, Ga., PCA plant knowingly shipped peanut products that had tested positive for salmonella. PCA was under no obligation to share those test results with state or federal regulators.

The Georgia law would also require the state to establish requirements for regular food testing, and processing plants would be required to draw up a
Food-safety plan. The bill now goes to Gov. Sonny Perdue. His spokesman said the governor hasn’t seen the bill yet, but there’s every indication he will sign it. The bill passed unanimously.

That rare event underscores how strongly Georgia lawmakers feel about closing food-safety loopholes after an epidemic that has dramatically reduced demand for peanut products. Georgia produces 45 percent of the nation’s peanuts.

This weekend, the city at the center of the controversy will try to move on from all the bad publicity. Blakely will hold a “Peanut Proud” expo, which the local paper, the Early County News, describes as “a special event to educate consumers that peanuts and peanut butter are safe, nutritious and trustworthy.”

Still, the CDC says as of Monday the outbreak has sickened 691 people and may have caused nine deaths. The one bit of good news: There have been no reported new illnesses since Feb. 24. The concern, though, is that peanut butter has such a long shelf life and that some of these products could be in kitchen pantries for quite some time. Congress will once again take up this issue Thursday and will hear from the CEO of Kellogg and two other companies that bought products from PCA.