Peanut facility: 'Nasty'
Source of Article: http://www.oaoa.com/articles/peanut_25877___article.html/plant_food.html February
3, 2009 - 8:04 PM BLAKELY,
Terry Jones, a janitor,
remembered the peanut oil left to soak into the floor and the unrepaired roof
that constantly leaked rain. And James Griffin, a cook at
the plant, recounted how his observations led to this simple rule. "I
never ate the peanut butter, and I wouldn't allow my kids to eat it." In interviews, these three men
and another employee who worked at the now-closed plant,
provided an inside glimpse into the day-to-day sanitation lapses there. Peanut Corp. of Items processed at the plant,
which produces 3 percent of peanut products sold nationwide, have reached
deep into the Several Major national brands of jarred
peanut butter, however, were not tainted. The peanut case is emblematic
of the FDA's troubles in protecting the nation's food supply. Understaffed
and spread thin, the agency routinely has turned food inspections over to the
states. But watchdog groups say the states are often ill-equipped to monitor
facilities where food products are stored, processed or manufactured. In fact, the Associated Press
reported Tuesday that a second Peanut Corp. of America plant, in Texas,
operated for years uninspected and unlicensed by government health officials
until after the company fell under investigation by the FDA. In the coming days, President
Barack Obama plans to announce a new FDA commissioner and other officials who
will implement a "stricter regulatory structure" to improve
oversight in food safety inspections, a White House spokesman said. The American Peanut Council, a
trade association representing all segments of the nation's peanut industry,
issued a statement responding to the FDA report that the company knowingly
released a product with potential salmonella contamination into the food
supply. "This is a clear and unconscionable act by one
manufacturer," the council stated. "This act is not by any means
representative of the excellent food safety practices and procedures of the A family-owned firm based in According to news reports, Then late last year, several
states reported mysterious cases of salmonella. When The FDA said Peanut Corp. sent
contaminated samples to various labs until it got a negative result, then shipped the product out to vendors. "This plant was running
tests for their own information but ignoring all the positive test
results," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director
of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition
advocacy group. "They ignored anything they did not like." The stories of former workers
at the Blakely plant illustrate what can happen when the state and federal
regulatory system breaks down. The workers said problems at the plant were
obvious and long-running, raising questions about why it took so long for
inspectors to fully uncover them. According to the workers, not a
day went by that they didn't see roaches or rats scurrying about. And after a
heavy rain, workers said, they had to step over puddles of water inside the
building. "It was pretty filthy around
there," said Jones, 50, who said he worked in the sanitation department
for eight months before he was laid off. "Whenever it rained back in the
(peanut) butter part, it was like it was raining inside. It was coming in
through the roof and the vents, but that didn't stop them from making the
paste," Jones said. Jones said he earned $6.55 an
hour but he was happy to have the job, which included mopping up water and
setting rat traps that sometimes caught three or four rodents a day. A recent FDA inspection report
did not note specific signs of rodents. But it did cite large openings along
the sides and tops of the trailers that contained totes of raw or roasted
peanuts. It also noted roaches; mold on the walls and ceiling and in the
storage cooler; dirty utensils and equipment used in food preparation; and
open gaps in the roof, allowing for wet conditions that could cause
salmonella contamination. "There were open gaps
observed as large as ½ inches x 2 ½ feet at the air conditioner intakes
located in the roof of the firm. Water stains were also observed on the
ceiling around the air conditioner intakes," the report stated.
"Additionally, there were water stains and streaks located on the edges
of the skylights where rain water has been leaking into the firm. All of
these openings were located in the production/packaging room. Totes of
finished, roasted product and a roasted nut packaging line are located
directly underneath these areas." The former workers interviewed
said they saw many of these problems and more. Teresa Spencer, 30, who said
she worked at the plant for two years before she was laid off in 2007,
complained that employees on the peanut line - not trained as professional
cleaners - were often required to clean the plant and did it inefficiently. "They needed to hire a
cleanup crew because you can't do your job and clean up too," said
Spencer, who worked as a quality sorter, picking rocks, sticks and bad
peanuts from the conveyor line. Another former employee, James,
36, said he worked in the shipping area for eight months before leaving last
year. During that time, James said he "saw them put new stickers on
buckets of peanut paste that were out of date. There were roaches, rats and
everything out there. "Some of the bags of nuts
had holes in them, and you could tell rats had eaten through them. And they
would put tape on them or sew them up and send them out," James said.
"Sometimes there would be mold on them, and they told us to pick out the
good nuts and put them in another bag." He said the employees often
talked among themselves about the conditions, but he said most workers did
not complain to management because they wanted to keep their jobs. "I'm not surprised this
happened," James said. "I just hate that people died." |
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