Sunland to Resume Production After Salmonella Outbreak

Violations found at company plant in '08 and '09 By James Andrews | November 1, 2012 Executives at Sunland, Inc., the peanut butter processor linked to September's outbreak of Salmonella known to have sickened  38 people, hope to resume their peanut business within the week and restart peanut butter production before the end of the year, local Portales, N.M., news station KRQE reported Tuesday. Sunland halted all production in September after health investigators connected peanut butter and eventually whole peanuts produced by the company to a multistate Salmonella outbreak. Environmental testing found Salmonella Bredeney at both Sunland's peanut butter and peanut production plants, and the company issued a number of voluntary recalls now totaling hundreds of products that span back in production dates to 2010. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has completed its investigation into the companies facilities, and peanut farmers in the area are ready to start working with Sunland again, according to KRQE. Sunland had some undefined problems at its peanut butter facility during FDA inspections it received in 2009 and 2010, when officials noted 'objectionable conditions' both times. In an interview with Food Safety News, Sunland Vice President Katalin Coburn said she could not specify what those conditions were, but knew that the company immediately resolved any and all problems following those inspections. Since word of those past inspections first resurfaced in early October, Food Safety News has been trying to retrieve copies of those inspection reports from the FDA. On October 16, the FDA acknowledged its receipt of a Freedom of Information request from FSN, but the reports have not yet been released. Sunland has been storing this year's peanut crop since its closure. Coburn told KRQE that the company was still assessing data from its tests and from the FDA's outbreak inspection. © Food Safety News More Headlines from Foodborne Illness Investigations » Tags: peanut butter, peanuts, Salmonella, Salmonella Bredeney, Sunland