FDA: Maker knew peanut butter was tainted

BLAKELY, Ga., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Managers of a peanut plant linked to a U.S. salmonella outbreak that has killed eight people knew its products were tainted but sold them anyway, officials say.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators say in-plant records at the Peanut Corporation of America's facility in Blakely, Ga., indicate the company's own tests of its products "identified some type of salmonella" 12 times in two years, but the products were sold anyway, sometimes after retesting at a different lab, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Michael Rogers, director of the division of filed investigations at the FDA, told reporters the test results should have led the company to track down the problems, but he said company officials took no steps to clean the plant.

In addition to the eight deaths, 500 cases of illness have been linked to the peanut butter and peanut butter paste made by PCA in Blakely. Its products are not sold directly to stores but used by manufacturers to make crackers, cookies, energy bars, cereal, ice cream, candies and even dog biscuits, the Washington Post reported.

Kellogg and McKee Foods are among the manufacturers recalling more than 100 products made with the peanut butter so far, the newspaper said.