Salmonella found at Ga. plant as early as 2006
Owner Stewart Parnell refused to testify at hearing; 9 have now died
msnbc.com staff and news service reportsupdated 7:13 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 11, 2009
WASHINGTON - See the jar, the congressman challenged Stewart Parnell, holding up a container of the peanut seller's products and asking if he'd dare eat them. Parnell pleaded the Fifth.
The owner of the peanut company at the heart of the massive salmonella recall refused to answer the lawmaker's questions — or any others — Wednesday about the bacteria-tainted products he defiantly told employees to ship to some 50 manufacturers of cookies, crackers and ice cream.
"Turn them loose," Parnell had told his plant manager in an internal e-mail disclosed at the House hearing. The e-mail referred to products that once were deemed contaminated but were cleared in a second test last year.
Summoned by congressional subpoena, the owner of Peanut Corp. of America repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on the salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 600 people, may be linked to nine deaths — the latest reported in Ohio on Wednesday — and resulted in one of the largest product recalls of more than 1,900 items.
"Did you or any officials ever place food products into inner state commerce you knew to be contaminated with salmonella?" asked Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.
"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectively decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. Constitution," said Parnell.
Moments later, as Parnell sat stiffly, his hands folded in his lap at the witness table, as Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., held up a clear jar of his company's products wrapped in crime-scene tape and asked if he would eat them.
Again, Parnell invoked the Fifth Amendment.
After he repeated the statement several times, lawmakers dismissed him from the hearing.
‘Total systemic breakdown’
Shortly after Parnell's appearance, a lab tester told the panel that the company discovered salmonella at its Blakely, Ga., plant as far back as 2006. Food and Drug Administration officials told lawmakers more federal inspections could have helped prevent the outbreak.
"We appear to have a total systemic breakdown," said Stupak, D-Mich.
Cookies, candy, crackers, granola bars and other products made with contaminated peanuts have been shipped to schools, stores and nursing homes, prompting the massive recall. The government raided the company's Georgia plant on Monday, and Peanut Corp. closed its Plainview, Texas, facility.
A federal criminal investigation is under way.
The House panel released e-mails obtained by its investigators showing Parnell ordered products identified with salmonella to be shipped and quoting his complaints that tests discovering the contaminated food were "costing us huge $$$$$."
In mid-January, after the national outbreak was tied to his company, Parnell told Food and Drug Administration officials that he and his company "desperately at least need to turn the raw peanuts on our floor into money."
In a separate message to his employees, Parnell insisted that the outbreak did not start at his plant, calling that a misunderstanding by the media and public health officials. "No salmonella has been found anywhere else in our products, or in our plants, or in any unopened containers of our product," he said in a Jan. 12 e-mail.
In another exchange, Parnell complained to a worker after they notified him that salmonella had been found in more products.
"I go thru this about once a week," he wrote in a June 2008 e-mail. "I will hold my breath .......... again."
Last year, when a final lab test found salmonella, Parnell expressed concern about the cost and delays in moving his products.
"We need to discuss this," he wrote in an Oct. 6 e-mail to Sammy Lightsey, his plant manager. "The time lapse, beside the cost is costing us huge $$$$$ and causing obviously a huge lapse in time from the time we pick up peanuts until the time we can invoice."
Lightsey also invoked his right not to testify when he appeared alongside Parnell before the subcommittee.
‘I want to see jail time’
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) asked victims’ family members what they want to ask the Centers for Disease Control, United States Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the states’ health departments.
“I would like to ask why anyone would not want to have mandatory recall. Why do we leave it up to the company?" asked Jeffrey Almer, whose mother, Shirley Mae Almer, died Dec. 21, several months after the outbreak was first known about. The 72-year-old was in a Brainerd, Minn., nursing home recovering from cancer treatment when her daughter served her peanut butter toast.
"Their behavior is criminal, in my opinion. I want to see jail time," said Almer.
Darlene Cowart of JLA USA testing service said the company contacted her in November 2006 to help control salmonella discovered in the plant.
Cowart said she made one visit to the plant at the company's request and pointed out problems with peanut roasting and storage of peanuts that could have led to the salmonella. She testified that Peanut Corp. officials said they believed the salmonella came from organic Chinese peanuts.
An FDA inspection report had placed the earliest presence of salmonella in June 2007, the first of a dozen times the company received private lab results identifying the bacteria in its products.
Cowart said she believed Peanut Corp. stopped using her company for lab tests because it identified salmonella too many times.
The company's internal records show it "was more concerned with its bottom line than the safety of its customers," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Charles Deibel, president of Deibel Laboratories Inc., said his company was among those that tested Peanut Corp. products and notified the Georgia plant that salmonella was found. Peanut Corp. sold the products anyway, according to an FDA inspection report.
"What is virtually unheard of is for an entity to disregard those results and place potentially contaminated products into the stream of commerce," Deibel said.
Deibel said he hopes the crisis leads to a greater role for FDA in overseeing food safety and providing more guidance to food makers.
The company, now under FBI investigation, makes only about 1 percent of U.S. peanut products. But its ingredients are used by dozens of other food companies.
The investigation is starting to zero in on the question of who was responsible.
Stupak said he wants know how Peanut Corp. managed to sell allegedly tainted goods month after month without triggering action by state and federal health authorities.
Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could harm consumers' health.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
