FDA: Peanut Corp. Did Nothing to Prevent Outbreak

(MoneyWatch)  Peanut Corporation of America shipped peanut butter despite test results in 2007 and 2008 showing that salmonella was present, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.

"There were no steps taken" by the company to deal with the contamination, said Michael Rogers, director of the FDA's division of field investigations.

But were there any steps taken by the FDA or other officials? Rogers didn't say, but we can assume not, since peanut butter shipped from the company's Blakely, Ga., plant sickened about 500 people across the country, and probably killed eight.

And here we see the core problem with allowing companies to regulate themselves: Most of the time, it works, but it takes just one rogue company to cause an outbreak. And, in very general terms, the kind of company that allows its products to be tainted in the first place is more likely to be the kind of company that might allow possibly-tainted products into the marketplace.

We don't know for sure that's what happened here, since all we have is the FDA's charges and a mostly closed-mouth Peanut Corp. The agency says it will release more details on Wednesday. The company issued a terse statement that it is cooperating.

The FDA itself inspected the plant twice and found salmonella there in tests unrelated to the current outbreak.

The agency "identified approximately 12 instances in 2007 and 2008 where the firm identified some type of salmonella ... and released the products," Rogers said in a telephone conference with reporters.

After the company's own tests discovered salmonella in its products, it sent samples to an outside lab. Those tests showed no contamination, so the product was shipped, Rogers said. Nothing was done at the plant to eliminate any salmonella or minimize further contamination, he added.

According to the Associated Press, the FDA "relied on Georgia authorities to inspect the plant. But state agricultural inspectors did not uncover what now appears to have been a festering problem."

Michigan Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak told the AP that inspections "are worthless if companies can test and retest until they receive the results they want." Stupak has introduced legislation to ban such "lab shopping" and to require companies to turn all test results over to the FDA.

Yes, it's insane that they aren't already required to do so. On the other hand, given how weak and ineffectual the FDA is on food safety, would it make much difference? One imagines stacks and stacks of unread reports, gathering dust.