Probe into salmonella scare expanded

Published 3:15 pm Monday, February 9, 2009

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have opened criminal probes into the Blakely peanut-processing plant determined to be the source of the national salmonella outbreak. While major national brands of peanut butter are not affected, a number of consumer products which use PCA peanuts have been recalled. Meanwhile, officials from the FDA and Centers for Disease Control have released a report claiming that the company found salmonella in a dozen internal tests of its products, but shipped them after getting new tests, which returned negative results. Both the Georgia Legislature and U.S. Congress are discussing tighter inspection rules for food-processing plants.

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