Federal Agents Raid Peanut Corporation of America
The FBI on Monday raided facilities owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), the company that federal authorities blame for the nationwide Salmonella outbreak that has been associated with eight deaths, including three in Minnesota.
The Associated Press said agents executed search warrants at PCA headquarters in Lynchburg, Virginia, and at the company's idle processing plant in Blakely, Georgia. Television cameras filmed the agents entering the facilities and carrying out boxes and other items.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified the Georgia plant as the cause of the Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 575 people in 43 states. The outbreak also has led to the largest food poisoning product recall in U.S. history, involving more than 1,750 items made by hundreds of different companies.
The FDA previously announced that PCA was under criminal investigation in connection with the outbreak, which peaked in December but is still ongoing.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled Wednesday to hold a hearing on outbreak. The AP reported that the subcommittee chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., has called a meeting on Tuesday to issue a subpoena compelling testimony from PCA president Stewart Parnell.
The FDA has said it found instances of PCA knowingly shipping product that had tested positive for Salmonella, a deadly pathogen that is especially dangerous for small children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.
Besides facing criminal investigation, the company is facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis by PritzkerOlsen Attorneys. The national food safety law firm represents the families of two Minnesotans who died in the outbreak. The victims are Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham and Doris Flatgard, 87, who had been living in a nursing home in Brainerd.
What we seem to have here is a modern day equivalent of Joe Keller in "All My Sons". Instead of shipping defective airplane parts, Steward Parnell shipped defective peanut products.