News tagged with 'Food Borne Illness'

It is still a mystery how E. coli 0157 made it into cookie dough found in the Nestle Toll House plant in Virginia- but federal microbiologists have identified it there.  That section of the plant has been closed displacing 250 workers. 

How did the potentially deadly E. coli 0157 bacteria get into raw cookie dough? Federal microbiologists are probing the Virginia plant that makes Nestle Toll House cookies to solve the mystery. Meanwhile, with 70 sickened, the first lawsuit has been filed.

The FDA is warning the public not consume Toll House Cookie products because of the risk of E. coli poisoning which has so far sickened 66 people in 28 states.  

The Texas plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America has received a record $14 million fine by the state for unsanitary conditions and selling contaminated food.  PCA has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meanwhile the number of people sickened has decreased, but people are still getting sick after they consume contaminated food off their pantry shelves.

Last month a New York plant that processes pistachios failed to pass a health test.  Today it is the focus of a nationwide salmonella investigation in pistachios.  Two million have been recalled and consumers are told not to eat anything containing the nut. So far no one has been sickened.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are introducing new legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new control to order recalls and open companies’ internal records for inspection.

FEMA gave out samples of peanut butter to ice storm victims in Kentucky which they are now warned not to eat. Meanwhile the Texas branch of Peanut Corp. is voluntarily closed after some samples taken last week reveal possible salmonella there too. 

Solving the case of the poisoned peanuts that has sickened 575 people across 43 states has involved federal scientists and several state officials to determine the source. The first case of a dog sickened with salmonella after eating contaminated dog treats has also been confirmed in Oregon.

There has been a shakeup in the new Department of Agriculture Peanut Standards Board.  Stewart Parnell of Peanut Corporation of America was asked to leave.  The board advises the federal government on the handling standards for peanuts grown and marketed domestically as well as imported.  His company is at the center of a nationwide recall due to salmonella.

Victims of salmonella speak in Washington amid a proposal to create a separate Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agency specifically to deal with food safety.

Three former employees offer a glimpse into the day-to-day sanitation lapses at Peanut Corp. of America's Georgia plant, reports the AJC. One worker recalls opening a tote full of peanuts and seeing baby mice in it.

Expect big news, perhaps this week, as a new FDA head is named.  President  Obama said today that he may call for an entire revamping of our food inspection system, following the salmonella outbreak across the country. Meanwhile more stores and products are announcing recalls.

The family of a 20-month-old boy who contracted salmonella poisoning after eating peanut butter crackers, will file one of the first product liability lawsuits against Peanut Corporation of America.  More are certain to follow in a class-action in Georgia, where the Blakely plant is located. 

Both the state of Georiga and the Department of Justice are looking at filing criminal charges against  Peanut Corporation of America. An inspection report should have raised a red flag that the company had extensive salmonella contamination that was not contained. 

The Associated Press reports in an exclusive, that a shipment of peanuts from the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Georgia went to Canada last spring and was found to contain a “filthy, putrid or decomposed substance,” later determined to be metal fragments. The plant is at the center of a nationwide recall of peanut products.  The FDA never inspected the rejected shipment.