Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) owner Stewart Parnell, summoned by congressional subpoena, repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself at the House [image-nocss] Energy & Commerce subcommittee hearing on the salmonella outbreak. The company allegedly shipped product that it knew was contaminated.
PCA suspended operations at a second processing plant Tuesday. It said in a statement that it was voluntarily suspending operations at its Plainview, Texas, plant while state and federal health officials investigate procedures and food safety records there. The facility is operated by a subsidiary, Plainview Peanut Co.
PCA closed its plant in Blakely, Ga., last month after federal investigators identified that facility as the source of the salmonella outbreak. The company also operates a small plant under the name Tidewater Blanching in Suffolk, Va.
The Texas closing comes a day after the FBI raided the plant in Georgia, hauling off boxes and other material. Agents executed search warrants at both the plant and at PCA's headquarters in Lynchburg, Va., according to a senior congressional aide with knowledge of the raids. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Meanwhile, in conjunction with the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Charlotte, N.C.-based snack maker Lance Inc. has launched www.LanceCrackersAreSafe.com. This microsite is dedicated exclusively to clarify consumer confusion about the safety of Lance brand peanut butter sandwich crackers and peanut products, which are not part of the recall.
Since the inception of the peanut butter recall nearly one month ago, Lance has taken great strides to get its message out to consumers via an evolving multi-media campaign including a YouTube video message from Lance President and CEO Dave Singer, sending Lance peanut butter sandwich crackers to radio and television stations, placing half-page color advertisements in more than 50 mainstream newspapers, developing shelf signage and sending e-mails to thousands of consumers, suppliers, retailers and employees.
Lance said it makes 100% of the peanut butter used in its Lance-brand sandwich crackers. It follows a strict, in-depth quality control program that includes extensive testing of its peanut butter at multiple phases of the production process.
The company makes eight peanut butter sandwich cracker varieties that can continue to be found on store shelves and remain safe to eat: ToastChee, Reduced Fat ToastChee, Toasty, Reduced Fat Toasty, Captain's Wafers Peanut Butter and Honey, Malt Peanut Butter, Wheat Crackers with Peanut Butter, and Nekot.
Products made by the company include sandwich crackers, potato chips, crackers, cookies, other snacks, sugar wafers, nuts, restaurant style crackers and candy, sold under the Lance, Cape Cod, Archway and Tom's brand names along with a number of private-label and third-party brands. The Company's products are distributed through a direct-store-delivery system of approximately 1,300 sales routes, a network of independent distributors and direct shipments to customer locations. Products are distributed widely through grocery and mass merchant stores, convenience stores, food service outlets and other channels.
Nielsen tracks sales of a variety of peanut products at thousands of food, drug and mass merchandise stores (excluding Walmart) across the country.
Its research shows that: Nearly $32 million worth of prepackaged peanuts, including bags, cans, jars and unshelled, were sold in the four-week period ending Jan. 24, 2009. This is down 25.9% versus the previous four-week period, and down 1% from the same period a year ago. This reflects the typical seasonal pattern seen for each of the past four years. Nearly 12.5 million pounds of prepackaged peanuts were sold in the four-week period, down 25.9% versus the previous four-week period and down 9.5% compared to the same period a year ago. Again, this pattern is typical. Unshelled peanuts showed a small increase in dollar and equivalized unit volume during the four weeks versus the previous four weeks: 0.6% in dollar sales and 1.7% in pounds sold. $72.5 million of jarred peanut butter was sold during the four-weeks, down 11.5% during the previous four-week period and down 3.8% compared to the same period a year ago. While the year-over-year decline may seem minimal, it comes after eight consecutive periods of double digit growth in this category. 33.8 million pounds of jarred peanut butter was sold during the four weeks, down 11% from the previous four weeks and down 22.1% from the same period a year ago. Again, this pattern is different than noted for the prior periods. "The peanut butter outbreak shows little ill-effect on prepackaged peanuts, but the peanut butter category is definitely showing the impact. It would appear that manufacturers and retailers are quickly removing potentially tainted products off of store shelves. For those who are not affiliated with the particular supplier of tainted product, now is the time to take extra measures to educate consumers and minimize any negative impact," said Todd Hale, senior vice president of consumer and shopper insights at Nielsen, Schaumburg, Ill.Click herefor the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) peanut butter recall webpage.Andclick here to read Fare magazine's feature on the peanut butter recall.
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