FDA Suspends Operations at Largest Peanut Butter Plant (1 Viewer)

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down on the country's largest peanut butter plant, which has had repeated food safety violations over several years with facilities possibly producing unsafe food.

The agency on Monday suspended the registration of Sunland Inc. in New Mexico. FDA officials discovered salmonella in numerous locations in Sunland’s processing plant after 41 people in 20 states were sickened by peanut butter manufactured at the Portales, N.M., plant. Most of those sickened were children and the product was sold at the Trader Joe’s grocery chain.

The FDA gained new authority to suspend Sunland Inc.’s registration in a food safety law signed by President Barack Obama in early 2011. This is the first time the agency has used it. According to Michael Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods, the ability to shut down the company’s operations is a step forward in an effort to stem a growing number of widespread outbreak like the salmonella illnesses linked to the peanut butter.

Before the food safety law was enacted, the FDA would have had to go to court to suspend a company’s registration.

“We would have had to go to court and build a case,” explained Taylor, stressing that the burden will now be on the company to prove it is safe.


Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/he...at-sunland-peanut-butter-plant/#ixzz2DRQZEI87