Personal Injury Law

Chopped Peanuts from Peanut Corporation of America were Refused by Canada and Returned to United States in September, 2008 - Where did the Peanuts Go?

By Bill Marler, Esq.

And people say investigative journalism is a lost art. Hat tip to Sharon Theimer and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of AP for uncovering that “weeks before the earliest signs of a national Salmonella outbreak that now has been traced to peanuts from a Georgia processing plant, peanuts exported by [Peanut Corporation of America] were found to be contaminated and were returned to the United States.” The reason for the Oasis notation on the FDA website was, “the article appears to consist in whole or in part of a filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance, or is otherwise unfit for food in that it appears to contain foreign objects.” The AP article provides further details:

The rejected shipment - coming over the U.S. border across a bridge between New York and Canada - was logged by the Food and Drug Administration but never was tested by federal inspectors, according to the government's own records. The chopped peanuts from Peanut Corp. of America in Blakely, Ga., were prevented by the FDA from being allowed back into the United States in mid-September because the peanuts contained an unspecified "filthy, putrid or decomposed substance, or is otherwise unfit for food," according to an FDA report of the incident. It was not immediately clear whether the date on the government's record, Sept. 15, was when the unspecified importer rejected the shipment or when the FDA refused it. It also was not known whether the peanut shipment ultimately was destroyed or sent somewhere else.

Here are the details from the FDA Oasis Site:

Manufacturer FEI: 3006771904
Manufacturer Name: Peanut Corp Of America
Manufacturer address line 1: Hwy 62 East
Manufacturer City: Blakely
Manufacturer Province/state: GA
Manufacturer Country: United States
Product code: 23NFH01
Importers product description: US GOODS RETURNED - CHOPPED PEANUTS
Refusal date: 15-SEP-2008
FDA_District: NYK-DO
Entry/doc/line/sfx: 112-2270017-4/1/1/
Bill of Lading: LOGF0002758
FDA sample analysis: No
FDA record of private lab sample analysis: Yes
Charge(s): FOREIGN OB
Reason: FOREIGN OB
Section: 402(a)(3), 801(a)(3); ADULTERATION
Charge: The article appears to consist in whole or in part of a filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance, or is otherwise unfit for food in that it appears to contain foreign objects.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).