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Forward Foods Declares Bankruptcy Over
Salmonella Outbreak
Source of Article: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/4773
Date
Published: Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
The Peanut
Corporation of America (PCA) can add another victim to its growing list
of casualties. This time, a food manufacturer was forced to file
chapter 11 bankruptcy over the massive recall and outbreak of tainted peanut
products produced by PCA, reported Newsday.
Forward Foods, which also operates under the name
Detour, maker of high protein snacks and meal replacement bars, filed for
bankruptcy protection citing that a “significant” portion of its stock had to
be deemed condemned over fears of salmonella poisoning, said Newsday.
Detour products containing peanut products from PCA accounted for the
overwhelming majority of Forward Foods’ protein bar sales, it said in
bankruptcy documents, added Newsday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) said that, to date, 642 people in 44 states have
fallen ill, which is an increase of 20 in less than one week, said
Newsday. Over half of those sickened were children and nine people have
died. Also, nearly 2,250 products in 17 categories have been recalled
by over 200 companies. Since most salmonella cases are never reported
to health authorities, it is likely that PCA products have sickened even more
than the overwhelming 642 known victims. Newsday also noted that food
banks across the country have also had to dispose of thousands of pounds of
food.
PCA is at the center of a criminal probe; faces
more than a dozen lawsuits involving victims who were sickened by the
company’s salmonella products, or their families—eight having been filed last
week; bankruptcy filings, FBI search warrants; and the possibility of
criminal charges, being called for by Congress. PCA filed Chapter 7
bankruptcy on February 7, which means PCA will liquidate its assets to repay
creditors, said Newsday. Authorities closed PCA’s
Texas plant last week and the Virginia plant—the
only plant not linked to salmonella—also closed last week, said Newsday.
Last month, inspections of the Georgia plant
found that PCA shipped peanuts that tested positive for salmonella
contamination at least a dozen times in 2007 and 2008. At the time of
that discovery, PCA officials told the FDA that those peanuts tested negative
for the bacteria in a second round of testing; however, the FDA learned PCA
actually shipped some peanuts before the second tests were completed.
Other lots were shipped without testing and, in some cases,
no second test was performed, even after the first came back positive.
Those same inspections of the Blakely plant turned up mold, roaches, and a
leaking roof.
The Texas Department of Health recalled
everything made in Plainview
after it found horrifically revolting conditions including dead rodents,
rodent excrement, and bird feathers in a crawl space above a production
area. According to the Associated Press (AP), the plant’s air handling
system was pulling debris from the infested crawl space into production areas.
Despite having been in operation since 2005, that facility was unlicensed,
and had never been inspected before the salmonella outbreak.
The Virginia
facility, although not tied to the outbreak, was found to have flaking paint
and evidence of rodents in 2007 and 2008. The problems were classified
as minor, and PCA promised to fix them, reported the AP in an earlier
article. When inspectors returned a second time in 2008 to ensure this
was done, they found two dead mice in traps in a warehouse, as well as an
open door, and a 32-inch-wide gap in strip curtains “completely exposed to
the entrance of pests,” said the AP. Mold was also found on the outside
of 43 totes of blanched peanuts.
This entry was posted on
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Legal News, Food Poisoning, Salmonella.
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