FDA Reports Company Knowingly Shipped Tainted Peanut Products

The Washington Post and other major papers report that Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipped peanut butter and other products contaminated with salmonella at least 12 times in 2007 and 2008.  The company's Blakely, Georgia plant produces peanut butter, paste, and meal used in products such as ice cream, snack crackers and even dog biscuits.  The strain of bacteria appearing most often in the Peanut Corporation of America foods is salmonella enterica, but other strains may exist in the products.  The outbreak of salmonella illness which began last summer has been linked to eight deaths, and approximately 500 people in 43 states have become ill.  About 22 percent were hospitalized, and about half of those affected are children.

If you suspect that you or a loved one has been affected by a contaminated or tainted peanut product call Gilreath & Associates at 1-800-637-7024.  The firm has handled numerous food contamination cases including highly publicized green onion contamination.  G&A practices throughout Tennessee and the Southeast. 

Gilreath & Associates also recommends that you seek counsel in your area and not from a law firm running national television ads.  Those firms collect a large number of cases, do not provide personal legal services, and ultimately hire local counsel in the states where the affected clients reside.  Persons injured by consuming the contaminated peanut butter or other products can likely file suit in their own county or state since the company actively shipped the products nationwide.  In Tennessee, and most other states, proof that the manufacturer knowingly shipped tainted or contaminated products could result in punitive damages.

For more information visit:

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_11576375

http://consumerist.com/5141592/peanut-corp-of-america-knowingly-shipped-tainted-peanut-butter

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/us/29Peanut.html