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.
From school lunches to nutrition bars and ice cream, the nationwide salmonella outbreak has reached deep into the American food supply — even though many people had never heard of the small company at the center of the investigation until a few weeks ago.
The food manufacturer, Peanut Corp. of America, has just a few plants scattered across the South, but it may be responsible for one of the nation's largest food recalls in history.
Federal investigators on Friday said the Lynchburg, Va.-based company knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products from its Blakely, Ga., plant after tests showed the products were contaminated. Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could make it harmful to consumers' health.
So far, the salmonella outbreak has sickened about 575 people in 43 states and may have contributed to at least eight deaths. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation and more than 1,550 products have been recalled.
The company has denied any wrongdoing, but said it is investigating.
Before the scandal, Peanut Corp. was a little-known but ambitious company that began in the 1970s as a family catering operation.
"We started this business working out of our house in Virginia with my mom doing all the accounting," company president Stewart Parnell had been quoted on the company's Web site.
The peanut processing business grew over the years. The company bought a plant in Georgia in 2001, opened another in Texas four years later, and was also running a plant in Virginia.
Friends and business associates said Parnell was dedicated.
"He certainly has gone out and done some things on his own — he didn't just lay around. He's been aggressive," said Eddie Marks, who runs a Virginia storage company and has known Parnell for 15 years.
But even as the company expanded and began to process millions of pounds of peanuts per month, its headquarters was still a two-story building behind Parnell's house. He even had his own brand of peanut products: "Parnell's Pride."
Belying the ambition, there were problems.
About nine months after Parnell bought the Georgia plant in 2001, potential insecticide contamination and dead insects were found near peanuts inspected by the Food and Drug Administration.
More recently, state inspections in 2006 and 2007 found some sanitary problems. After another inspection in October, state officials discovered only relatively minor violations.
But less than three months later, a federal investigation found roaches, mold and other unsanitary conditions.
The potential repercussions began to emerge. The Agriculture Department said it may have shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to free school lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007. The Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged that it distributed meals to disaster victims that may have included the potentially tainted peanut butter.
And it was discovered that the company's Plainview, Texas, plant didn't register with state health officials there after opening in March 2005 and only recently was discovered and inspected.
However, the most serious issue surfaced in inspection records released Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. The reports showed that in 2007 the company shipped chopped peanuts on July 18 and 24 after salmonella was confirmed by private lab tests.
FDA officials earlier had said Peanut Corp. waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanuts that initially tested positive for salmonella. But the agency amended its report, noting that the Georgia plant actually shipped some products before receiving the second test and sold others even after confirming salmonella.
A Peanut Corp. lawyer said the company is investigating and had no comment on the latest FDA findings. The company previously said it "categorically denies any allegations" that it sought lab results that would put its products in a favorable light.
Details of the privately held company have been slow to turn up, and what has come out hasn't been from Parnell. He has repeatedly declined to speak to reporters.
Parnell's friends and business partners described him as a hardworking, soft-spoken man who had a good rapport with the dozens of contacts he made over the years.
"He had a good reputation," said Jeffrey Pope, a peanut farmer who has done business with Parnell's Virginia plant. "People respected him. He's been in the industry for more than 30 years and he's been a mainstay."
Southwest Georgia peanut industry officials say Parnell didn't spend much time in the state, instead leaving the day-to-day dealings to others.
His reputation earned him a vaunted spot on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Peanut Standards Board, which is charged with helping the government establish quality and handling standards for the nation's peanuts.
But several board members said they were unaware Parnell was on the panel, and some said the board rarely met. When they did, it was often by teleconference.
Parnell was removed from the board Thursday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Peanut Corp. was suspended from participating in government contract programs for at least a year.
The company has said in statements that it is deeply concerned.
"The product recalls issued by our company continue to expeditiously remove all potentially harmful products from the marketplace, in the best interest of the public's health and safety," a statement midweek said.
(AP)
Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.
Georgia peanut farmers will need to plant more crops this year in order to meet demand around the world. Prices for the official state crop are going up as well.
China, normally one of the world's largest suppliers of peanuts, will not export any. The weak U.S. dollar also makes peanuts a bargain for places like Europe and Japan.
U.S. energy policy has affected peanut prices as well. Energy and world demand for food have driven up grain and soybean prices. Crops are competing for farmland with ethanol production.
Another factor, the recession. During tough economic times people consume more peanut butter. Demand is up 24% over this time last year.
Georgia's 2-billion dollar peanut industry produces 50-thousand jobs and 45% of all peanuts grown in the United States.
Georgia's peanut farmers have until Thursday to decide if they'll even bother planting. This is the deadline to qualify for prevented planting insurance. This insurance provides coverage to farmers when drought conditions keep them from getting their crops in the ground.
In many areas the fields are so dry, farmers cannot even loosen the soil. Some are returning their seeds to suppliers.
Rodney Dawson is with the Georgia Peanut Commission. He says the peanuts that have been planted are not what they should be.
"I've been in farming for 37 years and at this stage of the crop there should be peanuts some 5-6 inches wide. Everything I see is just real small just because of lack of moisture."
Georgia produces half of all peanuts grown in the United States. The industry employs 50-thousand people and contributes 2-billion dollars a year to the state's economy.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will not investigate Peanut Corporation of America’s Blakely operations. The head of GBI says any criminal investigation is best handled at the federal level.
Meanwhile, federal documents showing the plant had sanitary and contamination problems as far back as 2001.
According to the Food and Drug Administration documents, peanut products processed at the Blakely facility contained Aflatoxins, a common fungus in peanuts that in very rare cases can cause death. The documents also show federal inspectors found cobwebs, dead insects and spaces large enough for rodents to crawl through in the facility.
In 2007, inspectors cited a leaky roof at the plant over where peanuts were stored. Many of the problems appear in more report. The documents raise questions as to why the plant was allowed to continue operating without correcting the findings.
Officials at the FDA are not commenting, and PCA says it broke no law, and brought all violations into compliance.
Bubba Johnson checks freshly-dug peanuts on his Newton farm on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Todd Stone)
Southwest Georgia is one of the most productive agricultural regions in Dixie, but you wouldn't know it from the soil under the corn, peanuts and cotton. It can be sandy, it can be pebbly, and it doesn't hold water very well.
That begins to explain why irrigation is so vital around here — and why the mere suggestion that some of the region's water might be taken away fills folks with fear and resentment.
"Atlanta needs to take a hard look at what's happening in the metro area," said Bubba Johnson, a 68-year-old farmer who grows cotton and corn on a 500-acre plot. "There's going to be a heck of a battle if they try to come down here to get the water."
Johnson, president of the Mitchell County Farm Bureau, is pushing his neighbors and lawmakers to fight for local control of water.
"Before any water is transferred out, you have to make sure needs here are taken care of," he said.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.
Agriculture experts from the University of Georgia met with local farmers to discuss the industries outlook for the upcoming year. Crops across the board, such as corn, pecans, soybeans, and peanuts are selling at an all time high. But, the drought has wiped out Georgia’s livestock feed, and fuels costs have tripled. John McKissick, an agriculture economist from the University of Georgia said livestock farmers aren’t as lucky as crop farmers.
“Beef cattle producers are faced with rising costs from the energy side, yet their selling prices aren’t going up, in fact their's is going down some,” said McKissick.
According to the University of Georgia's Department of Agriculture, Georgian agribusiness brought in $2.5 billion dollars last year, even with the slump in landscaping and livestock profits.
Bio-energy experts are wrapping up their meeting in South Georgia. They’re looking at ways to help the Southeast rival the Midwest as the nation’s biofuels breadbasket. On display … a newspaper delivery car that runs on corn, sedans that run on peach and watermelon juice and tractors fueled by peanuts, poultry fat, soy and cotton. Governor Sonny Perdue pitched a plan this week to create a corridor of alternative fuel pumps along Interstate 75 and recently announced a $225 million venture to build the first wood-based ethanol plant in the state.
Georgia officials are still trying to determine the cause of the salmonella outbreak that's been linked to six deaths and more than 150 product recalls.
A crack in a piece of equipment that processes peanuts in a plant in Blakely, Georgia might be the cause of the nationwide salmonella outbreak. That’s according to state agriculture officials.
Department of Agriculture spokesman Oscar Garrison says they will continue to work with the US Food and Drug Administration to find the exact cause.
“There are some environmental samples that were taken by FDA that have turned up some positives as well as a couple of product samples take by our department that have turned up some positive results as well for salmonella.”
While salmonella isn't normally expected to turn up in peanut butter, 486 people from 43 states have contracted the illness.
All of the products recalled so far use peanut butter or peanut paste from the plant in southwest Georgia. But officials say peanut butter on store shelves is safe because they don’t sell directly to consumers.
Governor Sonny Perdue, Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson and Diane Isakson at the podium at the Gold Dome in Atlanta, Ga., as the senator announced his re-election run, on Feb. 17, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender).
Republican Senator Johnny Isakson Tuesday formally announced his candidacy for re-election at the state Capitol.
Isakson says although his $15,000-dollar homeowners tax credit was slashed in President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, which he opposed, the tax credit was, "still on life support."
"We're going to be back, and we're going to get it done because we need to stabilize housing.”
Isakson took a swing at plummeting peanut sales in the wake of the salmonella outbreak, and called for boosting Georgia commerce:
"We need to eat more peanuts, we need to make sure that Georgia products are sold around the world. And I can promise you this: every day of my life, as long as I have a breath, I'll be working hard to work for you."
Isakson, flanked at the podium by his wife Diane, Governor Sonny Perdue, fellow Senator Saxby Chambliss and other officials, said Georgians need to sacrifice and work together to get through the recession. Senior Ga. Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss congratulates Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, as Isakson's wife, Diane, applauds. Isakson announced his re-election run at the state Capitol in Atlanta on Feb. 17, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender).
The election for the senate seat will be in November of 2010.
No Democratic challenger has come forward, yet.
The 64-year-old Isakson’s political career has also included serving in the U.S. House, as well as in Georgia’s legislature. Isakson plans to tour the state beginning tomorrow with stops in Augusta, Albany and Columbus. On Thursday, he's scheduled to stop at Macon and Savannah.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of Sen. Isakson.
State Fire and Insurance officials say a fire that gutted a peanut warehouse in Sylvester one week ago has been ruled accidental. The determination is a welder’s torch sparked the blaze, which resulted in an estimated loss of $3.5 million dollars to the Farm Commodities Peanut Warehouse. The loss includes 2,300 tons of peanuts destroyed.
Governor Sonny Perdue announced today United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Edward T. Schafer has declared 22 eligible Georgia counties disaster areas as a result of the damage sustained from Tropical Storm Fay. The designation was sent in response to Governor Perdue’s request submitted in September.
“Agriculture is Georgia’s largest industry and the backbone of our economy,” said Governor Perdue. “I’m pleased the federal government agrees we should do everything in our power to assist farmers in counties that have been hit hard by Tropical Storm Fay.”
Based on USDA Damage Assessment Reports, farmers in 22 counties experienced enough damage to peanuts, cotton and corn crops to qualify for the disaster declaration. Eligible farmers in designated counties that meet the criteria may apply for a USDA low interest loan at their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. The 22 counties are listed below:
Join host Rickey Bevington tonight for Georgia Gazette. On tonight's show … a new food poisoning study ranks peanuts and poultry as major culprits – what it means for Georgia’s two largest ag industries. Imagine dozens of school buses racing through an obstacle course – we attend the Georgia Bus Drivers Road-eo. And music from a teenage piano virtuoso. These stories and more tonight on Georgia Gazette at 6, 7 in Athens, re-broadcast at 11, hear our show any time at www.gpb.org/georgiagazette , and download a free podcast on iTunes.
Federal inspectors found that a Georgia peanut plant now at the center of a salmonella outbreak exposed some of its equipment to insecticides in 2001. In a report based on that visit nearly eight years ago, inspectors said that workers at the Peanut Corp. of America's plant used an insecticide fogger not suitable for food areas and didn't wash its equipment. Those findings in 2001 are similar to problems discovered last month after the company shipped salmonella-tainted peanuts and peanut butter linked to at least eight deaths and 575 illnesses in 43 states.
Federal investigators are concerned salmonella could be in yet more peanut products. The company at the center of the outbreak is expanding it's recall to include all peanut products made at it's Blakely, Ga., facilities since January of 2007.
Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America issued the recall after it was revealed the company found salmonella in it's own testing and did not report it. The Food and Drug Administration also alleges PCA knowingly sold tainted product.
It's not yet clear what brands used PCA peanuts.
The FDA's Stephen Sudlof said on a conference call that his agency is working with various companies to aid in the recall:
"These additional products are being recalled because there is concern of potential salmonella contamination including contamination with salmonella strains not associated with the current outbreak."
Cases of salmonella poisoning have been dropping off, according to federal scientists. Over five hundred have been sickened, and eight people are believed to have died from the salmonella contamination.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.
Southern growers are optimistic about the farm bill that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee this week. Like House legislation that passed in July, the Senate measure would largely continue price supports for commodity crops such as cotton, peanuts and rice that drive the region's agriculture economy. Peanut farmers also said they were satisfied. Although the bill would hold peanut price supports roughly flat for another five years, it includes payments for storage costs in bad years.
The state Senate took up the issue of alcohol today. Senate Bill 385 sponsored by Senator Don Balfour (R-Snellville) would let limousine companies sell alcohol to its riders, in counties where such sales are permitted. The bill easily passed by a vote of 40 to 11.
"Basically, everyone's probably doing it anyhow. You ride in limosines, so that not you're drinking and driving."
Then Senators then took up the issue of Sunday sales in public stadiums and arenas. Republican Senator Renee Unterman (R-Buford) sponsored the stadium measure. Her county is the future home of the Richmond Braves, a Triple-A farm team. The proposal squeaked by with just one vote needed for a majority to pass.
"Baseball, beer and peanuts. They are as American as apple pie. That's why I ask for your vote This is a vote for our region, for our state, for economic development."
Speaking from the well of the Senate, Unterman tried to allay the concerns of lawmakers, who fear the measure might lead to Sunday alcohol sales statewide.
"I ask for your vote. I ask for no amendments to be placed on it. This is not a vote for Sunday sales."
But not all of the proposed alchohol measures have met with success. Senator Seth Harp (R-Midland) has authored a measure to abolish restrictions on Sunday retail alchol sales. His bill is currently stuck in committee. Harp spoke in support of the stadium sales measure, and urged lawmakers to let the voters have the final say so.
"I am in favor of this legislation because this is about the expansion of economic liberty in Georgia. This is an issue that the people of Georgia want to be heard about and ask that we respond to. And, I hope that in the not too distant future, we will have the opportunity to address and finally once and for all put this issue to bed."
Harp's bill face an uphill battle as opposition from one of the state's most powerful lobbies is unlikely to fade anytime soon.
Jim Beck is spokesperson for Georgia's Christian Coalition. Beck says he won't oppose the limosuine or stadiums measures, but draws a line in the sand when it comes to Sunday retail alcohol sales.
"If Senator Harp and the proponents of this legislation thought they had the votes, they would have attempted to amend either of these bills as had been rumored. So, we actually think this is a defeat for the folks that are pushing this idea."
It is unclear whether or not Harp's bill will make it out of committee any time soon.
