AP: Importer Rejected 'Filthy' Peanut Shipment Last Spring

The Associated Press in an exclusive report says that an international shipment of peanuts from the same plant where the salmonella outbreak had its origins was returned to the United States in April because it contained “a filthy, putrid or decomposed substance.”

The shipment, destined for Canada, was logged by the Food and Drug Administration, but federal inspectors never tested it. All this occurred well before the current salmonella outbreak was discovered.

The FDA on Friday told the AP that the chopped peanuts eventually were destroyed after the company responsible for the outbreak, Peanut Corporation of America, argued with the FDA over the agency’s finding that tests of the company’s products by a private lab hired by PCA were “unacceptable.”

The AP reports:

The FDA’s explanation Friday raises new questions about the adequacy of food-safety tests arranged by Peanut Corp. of its own products. The FDA said it refused to accept the private lab analysis because of problems with the size of the sample tested, lack of information about whether experienced and trained workers conducted the test, and questions about whether the test could have detected certain types of metals.

Earlier, it was reported that internal company tests showed that salmonella was present at least 12 times in 2007 and 2008. But the company in each case had outside labs redo the tests, which came back negative. Such “lab shopping” is part of congressional inquiries on the outbreak that are now being assembled.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., will begin oversight hearings on February 11.

The purpose of inspecting exports is to prevent them from being shipped abroad. But in this case, the tainted product wasn’t discovered until after it was rejected by the importer.