Salmonella, Peanut Butter | featured news

Four former officials of the Peanut Corporation of America were named in a 75-count indictment Thursday on charges related to salmonella-tainted peanuts and peanut products... "The indictment alleges that PCA officials affirmatively lied to their customers about the presence of salmonella in PCA's products,'' said Stuart Delery, principal deputy assistant attorney general.

The Peanut Corporation of America filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday in United States Bankruptcy Court in Virginia.

The owner of a peanut company urged his workers to ship tainted products after receiving test results identifying salmonella, according to company e-mails disclosed  by a House committee.

The peanut company at the center of an investigation into a deadly national salmonella outbreak said Tuesday it has suspended operations at a second processing plant.

The Agriculture Department shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to schools in at least three states under a contract with the Georgia company blamed for a nationwide salmonella outbreak.

The U.S. peanut company at the center of a salmonella outbreak said on Wednesday federal and state regulators regularly visited a plant in Georgia that has been identified as the source of the contamination.

Peanut butter makers move to reassure consumers about their products in the wake of a salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 500 people.

Hershey Co (HSY.N), maker of Reese's peanut butter cups candy, reiterated on Thursday that it does not buy peanut butter or other products from a company at the center of a major salmonella outbreak.

A South Georgia peanut processing plant linked to a national outbreak of salmonella had tested its products and found they contained the bacteria, yet still sold the products after retests were negative, federal food and drug officials said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

The number of deaths related to the US outbreak of salmonella has risen to seven with the death of a Minnesota woman in her 80s.