PCA Head Hit With Suit

Peanut Corporation of America President Stewart Parnell is being sued as an individual by alleged victims of the salmonella outbreak. Food and Drug Administration officials say the contamination occurred at PCA's Blakely plant.

Emails and other documents suggest Parnell knew batches of peanut products were contaminated when they were shipped. Several emails suggest Parnell was more concerned about the costs of holding the product instead of public health.

The suit was filed by Seattle based attorney Bill Marler in Georgia's Middle District Federal court. The plaintiffs are Derek and Cindy Trone.

Video: Peanut Co. Owner Urged Shipping Tainted Products

Internal e-mails indicate the owner of a peanut company urged his workers to ship tainted products after receiving test results identifying salmonella.

The company e-mails obtained by a House committee show Peanut Corp. of America owner Stewart Parnell ordered the shipments tainted with the bacteria because he was worried about lost sales.

Parnell was ordered to appear before Congress today to discuss the outbreak that has led to 600 illnesses and eight deaths blamed on his Georgia plant. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, revealed the internal correspondence from the company during a House Energy and Commerce hearing.

(AP)

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Perdue: Peanut Company Broke a 'Sacred Trust'

Governor Sonny Perdue on Wednesday said a “sacred trust,” was broken between the Peanut Corporation of America and consumers over the spreading salmonella debacle at the company’s Blakely plant.

Perdue and state agriculture officials are circling the peanut wagons and throwing their full backing behind Georgia’s farmers, food producers and distributors.


Governor Sonny Perdue makes a point to the several hundred industry leaders, farmers and legislators at the Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, held in downtown Atlanta on Feb. 4, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

At a Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, Perdue told several hundred industry leaders:

“When people violate that sacred chain of food safety control, they will be prosecuted and held accountable; it is too important not to…(applause)”

Perdue faced a room packed with a veritable roll-call of food and ag industry officials.

Many worry that the an spreading peanut recall could prompt an already uncertain public could shun other preach-state-grown-and-produced foods.

Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, says his department will reorganize to face the daunting task of better monitoring farms and factories across the state:

”Our inspectors have 16,000 facilities they have to inspect. You have to do that today with 60 employees – it’s impossible to give the necessary coverage that, apparently, we need.”

Irvin says his office will ask the legislature to establish a division to deal exclusively with checking processed foods.

The General Assembly is already mulling a mandatory food-testing bill.

Perdue, however, says no amount of externally-enforced inspections can replace a responsible food industry:

“In the food chain, there is a voluntary compliance: we share a sacred trust of safety among our producers, processors, preparers and servers of food – and you cannot be everywhere at one time.”

House Speaker Bill Richardson holds up a bag of Georgia peanuts, during his comments at the Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, held in downtown Atlanta on Feb. 4, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

To make a point of that trust, House Speaker Glenn Richardson held up a small bag of Georgia peanuts as he stood behind the podium:

"One of the fringe benefits of being at the capitol, is [that] the Department of Agriculture brings these Georgia peanuts by (opens foil packet); they leave them at our office. And everybody that comes to our office loves these, and you know what?… (eants a few peanuts) I love Georgia peanuts. (applause).”

And those Georgia peanuts make up almost half of all peanuts used in the United States.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the salmonella-tainted peanut products.

Georgia On It's Way to Becoming Food Regs Leader

The Georgia General Assembly is considering a bill that would require mandatory testing for harmful pathogens at food warehouses, manufacturing plants and "food sales establishments."

All test results would be sent to state officials.

Similar plans have been floated before, mainly by critics of the current food safety system. Generally, those proposals follow large scale outbreaks and huge recalls.

Each time, the food and agricultural industry, even in the height of "crisis," have fought back mandatory testing.

And making those results public by forking them over to state officials has been a non starter.

Large firms have argued the measures aren't necessary as testing protocol often already exists. Small firms and family run operations have successfully lobbied against similar measures in California, telling lawmakers the tests will cut their bottom line.

So it's a big deal when Georgia looks to become a leader in food testing regulations.

"It's a great first step," said lawyer Bill Marler. He's suing the company at the center of the recent outbreak of salmonella in peanut products. "Not perfect, not enough, but a start" Marler wrote on his blog.

The bill would give the Georgia Agricultural Commissioner the power to set up the specific guidelines. Tests would need to happen once a year, at minimum.

Peanut Corporation of America, the operators of the now closed Blakely facility, have been accused by the Food and Drug Administration of knowingly shipping tainted product for distribution. The company disputes those charges, and says the FDA's report is inaccurate.

So far eight deaths have been attributed to the tainted peanut products.

“When people’s lives are at stake, food safety inspections should not be subject to lax regulations,” said Republican Sen. John Bulloch, who introduced the legislation.

“Consumers must be assured their food is safe and we must protect the integrity of Georgia’s producers. Much of our economy depends on the state’s agriculture industry, which cannot afford to suffer the negative impacts of food recalls.”

Peanut Problems Compound

As the salmonella recall of products containing peanut butter continues to expand, a Washington state lawyer is calling on the company with Georgia operations to pay funeral costs for the six people believed to have died from the outbreak.

That comes as Virginia based Peanut Corporation of America announced it's laying off the majority of it's workforce.

Bill Marler filed suit against PCA. The Seattle based lawyer represents the family of a person believed to have died as a result of consuming salmonella laced products processed at the Georgia's company's plant. In addition to asking PCA to cover hospital and funeral costs for those sickened by the outbreak, Marler also wants to investigate claims crack in the peanut processing machinery led to the salmonella contamination.

"We'll be asking the court to allow us entry into the facility so we can have our experts doing our own investigation as to why this outbreak occurred."

State and Federal health officials are currently investigating the cause of the outbreak.

Over 180 products, from snack crackers to protein bars, have been recalled.

Marler's entry into the case signals the large size and scope of this outbreak. He specializes in class action food borne illness cases, and litigated the 2006 E. Coli outbreak in spinach. California farming company executives literally cursed his name during that outbreak, which crippled the California agricultural industry. Marler says there are similarities in the two cases.

"Death cases in spinach were four, this one six. Yet, the other people who become ill, even though the numbers are bigger, the severity of the illnesses for salmonella tend to be substantially less, fortunately."

Marler has negotiated similar settlements for millions of dollars.

The potential cost, and current investigation, might be one reason PCA laid off a majority of it's workforce at the Blakely plant. Workers showed up to the plant yesterday to locked doors. It was only today the company president announced through a statement just three managers would remain on staff to aid the investigation. It's unclear exactly how many workers were let go, although the plant employs between 45-50 people, according to the local chamber of commerce.