Peanut Butter Salmonella Hearing Set To Go
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The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to hold an important hearing Wednesday in Washington, D.C., on the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that has been linked by federal authorities to peanut butter and peanut products made at the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).
"This hearing will help bring to light not only what went wrong but also what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and industry can do to prevent future outbreaks,'' said U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who chairs the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
More than 575 illnesses and eight deaths -- including three in Minnesota -- have been attributed to the outbreak. The families of two of the Minnesota victims have retained national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys to represent them in wrongful death lawsuits against PCA and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor of PCA peanut butter.
In a Peanut Corporation of America wrongful death lawsuit already filed by PritzkerOlsen, the firm alleges negligence by the companies.
At Wednesday's hearing, members of the committee will hear testimony about company actions that contributed to the outbreak. Chaired by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the committee also will grill witnesses about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's response to the outbreak.
The peanut butter Salmonella outbreak is in its sixth month and has led to more than 1,700 product recalls by companies that used PCA products as ingredients in other foods. It is one of the largest recalls in history prompted by a food poisoning outbreak and the FDA is tracking the recalls with a searchable database intended for public use.
Wednesday's hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. EST at 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.
