Peanut processor denies shipping tainted products

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The federal agency investigating a national salmonella outbreak alleges a Portales peanut processor knew it was shipping tainted products to stores.

Sunland Inc. denies the claim made in a report on the outbreak released Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration.

"In every instance where test results indicated the presence of a contaminant, the implicated product was destroyed and not released for distribution," Sunland President and CEO Jimmie Shearer wrote in a statement posted to the company's website. "The Company believed at all times that its response was sufficiently robust such that any product which might be contaminated was isolated and destroyed."

The FDA report says it found conditions inside and outside the Portales plant that made perfect conditions for salmonella to grow.

Inspectors say Sunland employees practiced poor sanitation habits while handling peanuts and equipment.

The FDA also says it found no record of the plant cleaning its equipment and that plant doors were open allowing pests to enter inside.

Investigators also uncovered trailers of peanuts outside the facility that were exposed to rain and birds.

The company recalled hundreds of peanut and almond products earlier this year after one of its peanut butters was linked to 41 salmonella illnesses around the country.

The FDA says as far back as 2009 the company cleared peanut and almond butters for distribution even though its own tests showed they were tainted with salmonella.

Last month the Sunland Vice President Katalin Coburn told KRQE no salmonella had been found in any of its products or at the plant.The federal agency investigating a national salmonella outbreak alleges a Portales peanut processor knew it was shipping tainted products to stores.

Sunland Inc. denies the claim made in a report on the outbreak released Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration.

"In every instance where test results indicated the presence of a contaminant, the implicated product was destroyed and not released for distribution," Sunland President and CEO Jimmie Shearer wrote in a statement posted to the company's website. "The Company believed at all times that its response was sufficiently robust such that any product which might be contaminated was isolated and destroyed."

The FDA report says it found conditions inside and outside the Portales plant that made perfect conditions for salmonella to grow.

Inspectors say Sunland employees practiced poor sanitation habits while handling peanuts and equipment.

The FDA also says it found no record of the plant cleaning its equipment and that plant doors were open allowing pests to enter inside.

Investigators also uncovered trailers of peanuts outside the facility that were exposed to rain and birds.

The company recalled hundreds of peanut and almond products earlier this year after one of its peanut butters was linked to 41 salmonella illnesses around the country.

The FDA says as far back as 2009 the company cleared peanut and almond butters for distribution even though its own tests showed they were tainted with salmonella.

Last month the Sunland Vice President Katalin Coburn told KRQE no salmonella had been found in any of its products or at the plant.

"I have to repeat and reiterate that there is no product that's been identified," Coburn said. "It's simply a strain of salmonella that has been identified as common to the people that have fallen ill."

The Sunland plant remains closed, and the FDA is currently evaluating the company's response to the government's inspection. The FDA has to give the go-ahead for the plant to reopen.