Salmonella outbreak due to peanut product recall could have been prevented

by Sydney Elliot

The peanut product recall has been expanding over the last several weeks and as the list of contaminated products grows, so does the concern.

Some 530 people have been sickened due to salmonella poisoning because of peanut products coming from a Georgia peanut plant, but the reason these people have gotten sick is not due to accident. According to a report from newsday.com, there have been 529 confirmed cases of salmonella poisoning in the United States, with one being in Canada, and eight deaths have been reported.

The recall include more than 400 products from the Georgia plant, Peanut Corporation of American, according to the Los Angeles Time online. The plant, located in Blakely, Ga., is suspected to have been shipping contaminated products during the last two years.

This outbreak could have been prevented. Investigations by the Food and Drug Administration found the plant to be unsanitary in that mold was growing on the ceiling, rainwater leaked into the production line from skylights, there were gaps in the building where rodents could enter the plant, dead roaches were found and the building had inadequate ventilation, according to the L.A. Times Web site.

Besides the company operating in unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, the company also shipped product that tested positive for salmonella. Products that turned up positive for contamination were retested until the sample came up clean. Once the product tested negative for contamination, it was shipped, according to the L.A. Times Web site.

Despite unsanitary conditions practiced by the company, and unethical shipping of contaminated product, this outbreak could have also been stopped by the government at the State and Federal levels.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution Web site, in Georgia, the state Agriculture Department does inspections on behalf of the FDA. The FDA has not personally inspected the Georgia plant since 2001, and the state Agriculture Department began investigating the plant in 2006 on behalf of the FDA, according to the AJC Web site. So, what happened during those five years? Was the plant inspected at all?

In an article on the Today Show Web site, President Barack Obama is urging for more strict regulations on the FDA. Unfortunately, it is too late for the eight people who died and the more than 500 that are sick, but hopefully this move will flourish and keep massive outbreaks such as this from happening again.

It’s a shame so many people had to get sick for this plants egregious actions. It could have been prevented.