Peanut-plant salmonella brings calls for food safety reform

— -- The peanut-related recall has renewed calls for increased oversight of the nation's foodmakers, and even regulators are saying they need to change procedures to better protect the public.

The recall stemming from salmonella contamination at the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) plant in Blakely, Ga., resulted from a "total systemic breakdown," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of a congressional subcommittee that held a hearing on the recall Wednesday.

PCA's president refused to testify amid a federal criminal investigation and regulators' allegations that the plant knowingly shipped contaminated products.

The salmonella outbreak has sickened more than 600 and may have contributed to nine deaths.

The case has turned a spotlight on holes in the USA's food-safety net:

•The FDA relied on Georgia state inspectors to check PCA's Blakely plant, and they found only minor violations. The FDA noted more serious deficiencies in a 14-day inspection after the outbreak was underway.

•Major foodmakers relied on audits that PCA paid for to guarantee that their processes were good. Private labs that tested products for contamination and found positives gave that information only to the company — the typical industry practice — because there are no laws that they inform regulators. The FDA's Stephen Sundlof, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, told lawmakers the FDA wanted new powers, specifically the right to receive internal test results during routine FDA inspections.

•PCA's plant in Texas went unlicensed and uninspected for years because the state didn't know it was there. PCA's Georgia plant has been closed for weeks. The Texas plant closed Monday after salmonella was found there, too.

An FDA inspection of the Blakely plant last month — after the outbreak was underway — revealed PCA repeatedly knew in 2007 and 2008 that it had product testing positive for salmonella. Some product was shipped after retests found negative results. Some was shipped even after salmonella positives, the FDA says. Some went out before test results were known.