A top official with the Food and Drug Administration told Congress that the agency’s policies may change as a result of the recent salmonella outbreak involving peanut products.
In his testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said the outbreak underscored the need for greater federal oversight, better industry practices and stronger safeguards.
“A good day at the FDA is when avoidable outbreaks do not occur -- and that did not happen here. We can, and will, learn from the outbreak what we can do to better assure the safety of our food supply moving forward,” he said.
Click here to see the list of recalled productsAmong his recommendations, Sundlof said inspectors should have access to food records during routine inspections and that the FDA should require food facilities to renew their registrations every two years. He also said that mandatory recall authority would be “useful” in flushing implicated products from the marketplace more quickly.
When it comes to peanut butter in general, Sundlof said the government is considering labeling it a high-risk food -- a designation that would require peanut-butter producers to abide by written rules to prevent contamination.
Sundlof was joined by a number of others on Capitol Hill on Wednesday -- most notably, Stewart Parnell, owner and president of the Peanut Corporation of America. Parnell, whose company owns the Georgia plant at the crosshairs of the peanut scandal, refused to answer questions about claims that his actions may have led to the deaths of nine people and illness of some 600 others across the country.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), holding up a clear jar wrapped with crime-scene tape containing recalled products that were produced by Parnell’s company, asked Parnell if he’d eat them. Parnell invoked the Fifth Amendment, choosing not to answer.
"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. Constitution," he said.
Sammy Lightsey, the manager of the Georgia plant under investigation, also pleaded the Fifth when asked to testify.
Emails between Parnell and Lightsey also surfaced during the hearing, as investigators showed orders by Parnell to continue to shipping products tainted with salmonella. Documents also showed Parnell complaining that testing the contaminated food was "costing us huge $$$$$ and causing obviously a huge lapse in time from the time we pick up peanuts until the time we can invoice."
In his opening statement, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) called the documents “disturbing.”
“They seem to show a company that was more concerned with its bottom line than the safety of its customers,” he said.
Also testifying at the hearing on Wednesday were Jeffrey Almer and Lou Tousignant, each of whom lost a parent in connection with the contaminated peanut butter. Almer and Tousignant spoke mournfully of their losses, lashing out at the wrongful actions and lack of oversight that may have led to their parents’ deaths.
“Her death and the deaths of seven others could have been so easily prevented if it were not for the greed and avarice of the Peanut Corporation of America,” said Almer, referring to the death of his mother.
Both Almer and Tousignant reside in Minneapolis. Of the nine whose deaths have been linked to the outbreak, three were from Minnesota.
More than 1,900 peanut-containing products have been recalled over the past few weeks in what has become one of the largest recalls in the nation’s history.
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