April 10, 2007
FDA Says Peanut Butter Contamination Riskier than First Thought
The FDA has decided to increase the monitoring and investigation of processing plants that make peanut butter after its initial investigation has found that the peanut butter contamination poses a greater public health risk than originally believed. "Up until this point, peanut butter has not been considered a high-risk food," said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "We now know peanut butter can be a vehicle for salmonella." The last time the ConAgra plant was inspected by the FDA was in 2005. ConAgra spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said Thursday the company traced the salmonella outbreak to three problems at its Sylvester plant last August.
The plant's roof leaked during a rainstorm, and the sprinkler system went off twice because of a faulty sprinkler, which was repaired.
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