CANADA: Consumers' Association upset that food agency can't find source of tainted peanut complaint

05.feb.09
Globe and Mail
Joe Friesen

The Consumers' Association of Canada attacked the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency yesterday for being unable to explain how a shipment
of a peanuts from the plant at the centre of a deadly salmonella
outbreak was rejected in this country, triggering an investigation by
U.S. authorities.
In April, 2008, a shipment of peanuts from Peanut Corp. of America in
Blakely, Ga., was returned to the U.S. from Canada. When U.S.
authorities inspected the package, they found it contained metal
shavings.
That prompted an investigation of the Peanut Corp. plant, the first in a
series that eventually led authorities to link the plant to a salmonella
outbreak that has killed eight people in the U.S., caused hundreds to be
hospitalized and sparked one of the largest product recalls in history.
"I just find this very disconcerting for consumers that for once we have
something identified and sent back, and the CFIA aren't even able to
tell us how it happened. We expect more than that," said Bruce Cran,
Consumers' Association president. "I think it's absolutely outrageous."
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it cannot say for certain how
the contaminated peanut shipment was identified. It said it's very
likely that the importer who purchased the product opened the package
and, after discovering a contaminated shipment, decided to send it back
to Peanut Corp.
It's not known whether that shipment was contaminated with salmonella,
but when it was inspected again at the U.S. border, authorities from the
Food and Drug Administration found metal shavings, and ordered an
inspection of the Georgia plant.
The CFIA has no record of whether it was informed by the importer of the
contaminated product, whether it inspected the container, or whether it
told the FDA of its concerns about the shipment. Peanuts are considered
a low-risk product and are not regularly inspected or entered into the
CFIA's computer tracking system.