06.apr.07
The Dispatch Online
Josh Funk
http://www.the-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070406/APF/704063111&cachetime=5
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was cited as saying Friday it will increase the frequency of investigations at plants that make peanut butter and similar products, saying this year's salmonella outbreak showed peanut butter is riskier than health officials had thought.
Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, was quoted as saying, "Up until this point, peanut butter has not been considered a high-risk food. We now know peanut butter can be a vehicle for salmonella."
Acheson was further cited as saying peanut butter will almost certainly move up on the FDA's list of high-risk foods, and the agency bases its inspection schedule on the relative risk of foods but that peanut butter is not likely to knock fresh produce off the top of that list, because the risks are highest with foods that don't get cooked later.
Acheson was further cited as saying salmonella infections could happen at other peanut butter plants, but he believes the industry has been paying attention, adding, "I would be pretty certain that every other peanut butter producer is having the same thought we are and is paying a lot of attention to it to make sure that it doesn't happen."
The explanation for the salmonella outbreak ConAgra officials offered Thursday fits with what the FDA found, Acheson said, but the government investigation has not been completed.
FDA officials will decide whether to pursue any sanctions against ConAgra after the investigation, Acheson said.