OT: This guy ought to fry.

[Rick]

Salmonella found at Ga. plant as early as 2006

Owner Stewart Parnell refused to testify at hearing; 9 have now died

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29138430?GT1=43001

WASHINGTON - See the jar, the congressman challenged Stewart Parnell, holding up a container of the peanut seller's products and asking if he'd dare eat them. Parnell pleaded the Fifth.

The owner of the peanut company at the heart of the massive salmonella recall refused to answer the lawmaker's questions — or any others — Wednesday about the bacteria-tainted products he defiantly told employees to ship to some 50 manufacturers of cookies, crackers and ice cream.

"Turn them loose," Parnell had told his plant manager in an internal e-mail disclosed at the House hearing. The e-mail referred to products that once were deemed contaminated but were cleared in a second test last year.

Summoned by congressional subpoena, the owner of Peanut Corp. of America repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on the salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 600 people, may be linked to nine deaths — the latest reported in Ohio on Wednesday — and resulted in one of the largest product recalls of more than 1,900 items.

"Did you or any officials ever place food products into inner state commerce you knew to be contaminated with salmonella?" asked Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectively decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. Constitution," said Parnell.

Moments later, as Parnell sat stiffly, his hands folded in his lap at the witness table, as Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., held up a clear jar of his company's products wrapped in crime-scene tape and asked if he would eat them.

Again, Parnell invoked the Fifth Amendment.

After he repeated the statement several times, lawmakers dismissed him from the hearing.

‘Total systemic breakdown’
Shortly after Parnell's appearance, a lab tester told the panel that the company discovered salmonella at its Blakely, Ga., plant as far back as 2006. Food and Drug Administration officials told lawmakers more federal inspections could have helped prevent the outbreak.

[7 Wishes]

Agreed. What a despicable human being. He's almost as vile as Barney Frank.

[Rick]

Agreed. What a despicable human being. He's almost as vile as Barney Frank.

Hey 7, how are you bro?

[7 Wishes]

I've been better at times - but a lot worse...other than the proverbial economic typhoon on the horizon, all is well.

[Rockindeano]

Food and Drug Administration officials told lawmakers more federal inspections could have helped prevent the outbreak.

Wasn't the FDA woefully cut back in the last 8 years? I believe it was a non priority among the Bush Administration, however, I could be wrong. Typical liberal program...food safety, pfft.

[7 Wishes]

The Democrats are the party of Satan, and you know it.

[Rick]

Peanut firm in salmonella outbreak files for bankruptcy.

This company fucking reeks.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... ptcy_N.htm

ATLANTA (AP) — Peanut Corp. of America, the peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Virginia on Friday.

It is the latest bad news for the company that has been accused of producing tainted peanut products that may have reached everyone from poor school children to disaster victims.

"It's regrettable, but it's inevitable with the events of last month," said Andrew S. Goldstein, a bankruptcy lawyer in Roanoke, Va., who filed the petition.

The salmonella outbreak was traced to the company's plant in Blakely, Ga., where inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaking roof. A second plant in Plainview, Texas, was shuttered this week after preliminary tests came back positive for possible salmonella contamination. So far, the outbreak has been suspected of sickening more than 630 people and may have caused nine deaths. It also has led to more than 2,000 product recalls, one of the largest recalls in U.S. history.

Companies file Chapter 7 to liquidate their assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors. A trustee is automatically appointed to oversee the wind down, as opposed to a Chapter 11 filing that gives a company breathing room while it tries to reduce its debts and continue in business. The company said in the filing that its debt and assets both ranged between $1 million and $10 million.

The board had considered a Chapter 11 bankruptcy but decided on an outright liquidation. It said in a court filing that the recalls had been "extremely devastating" to the company's financial condition.

"We kicked the tires on trying to reorganize, but the fact of the matter is they've absolutely closed down," Goldstein said. "They're prevented from carrying on business. There didn't seem like there would be any prospects."

The company's problems have multiplied since the link to its Georgia plant.

The government is working on a criminal investigation into the case, and more than a dozen civil lawsuits have been filed. This week, Peanut Corp. President Stewart Parnell repeatedly refused to answer questions before the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, which is seeking ways to prevent another outbreak. But e-mails surfaced indicating he ordered products the company knew were tainted to be shipped anyway.

Reached by telephone, Parnell said his attorneys had advised him not to talk. "If I could do it, I would," he said.

Despite Friday's bankruptcy filing, food safety lawyers are optimistic that victims and their families can still be compensated. The bankruptcy proceeding could postpone litigation against the company, but lawyers plan to push a judge to allow civil lawsuits to go forward anyway. And many have also filed lawsuits against King Nut Co. and Kellogg, which they say used the tainted ingredients in their products.

"Even if Peanut Corp. doesn't have enough insurance and enough assets to cover the damages, King Nut and Kellogg will have to step up," said Bill Marler, who has filed seven lawsuits against the company and represents more than 40 possible victims.

Fred Pritzker, a food safety lawyer in Minneapolis who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company, said it could delay justice for his clients.

"For all the people whose loved ones have been killed or people who have been out of work or suffered serious injury or who have incurred medical bills, right now they're just left with a lump of uncertainty," he said.

The company began as a family business in 1977, and Parnell, his father and two younger brothers turned the struggling peanut roasting operation into a $30 million operation before selling it in 1995.

But in 2000 Stewart Parnell bought his own peanut plant in Texas, and a year later he bought the Blakely, Ga. operation after teaming up with a financial backer, David Royster III of Shelby, N.C. He also operated a plant in Suffolk, Va.

It all came crashing down when federal investigators identified the Georgia plant as the sole source of the salmonella outbreak, and questions began emerging about how the company operated its plants.

The company faced more scrutiny once it was revealed that its Texas plant, which opened in March 2005 and was run by a Peanut Corp. subsidiary, Plainview Peanut Co., was not inspected by state health officials until after problems arose at the company's Georgia plant. Texas health officials asked the company to close the plant Monday after samples sent to a private lab for testing showed possible salmonella contamination.

On Friday, companies began destroying products made with anything that came from the plant after Texas health officials said they discovered rodents, feces and feathers in a crawl space above a production area. An air handling system sucked debris from the crawl space into an area where peanuts are processed, officials said, so Texas officials took the highly unusual step of ordering all products ever made at the plant recalled.

"The reason we went back to March of 2005 is because it could not be determined how long those conditions had existed in that facility and ... it would have been risky to guess," said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Associated Press Writers Vinnee Tong in New York, Sue Lindsey in Roanoke, Va., Jeff Carlton in Dallas and AP Business Writer Emily Fredrix in Milwaukee contributed to this report.