ConAgra Isn't Out Of The Woods
By Laurel Maloy, contributing writer, Food Online
Seven years after the fact, ConAgra is still the subject of ongoing federal investigations and is currently in talks with the U.S. Attorney’s office
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, ConAgra has spent $25 million investigating its culpability in the infamous 2007 peanut butter recall. Creating a peanut butter shortage on store shelves across the nation, the recall affected Peter Pan and Great Value brands produced at one Sylvester, GA plant.
Blamed for 628 cases of Salmonella in 47 states, between Nov 2006 and May 2007, a criminal investigation was launched in 2011. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Georgia and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Consumer Protection Branch, are jointly pursuing criminal charges. This first ever salmonella outbreak attributed to peanut butter resulted in 20 percent of those affected being hospitalized, though no deaths were reported. At the time, The Washington Post reported that ConAgra officials were unsure why the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) identified peanut butter as the source of the illnesses. Chris Kircher, a plant spokesperson, explained that its own tests had been negative. ConAgra evidently randomly assesses 60 to 80 jars of each production run as they come off the line, testing for salmonella and other pathogens. The plant was shut down so an investigation could be pursued.
In a remarkably similar case, a trial will begin this summer for a peanut-related outbreak in 2009. Unrelated to ConAgra, 76 federal felony counts have been brought against four former executives of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). This salmonella outbreak sickened more than 700 and killed nine people, one of the deadliest outbreaks in U.S. history. PCA filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
ConAgra, if successful in its talks with prosecutors, will follow the path of Sara Lee. The company pled guilty to one misdemeanor charge, agreeing to pay $4.4 million in civil and criminal penalties following a 2001 recall. Federal prosecutors allowed this plea deal in the wake of 15 deaths caused by producing and distributing adulterated deli meats and hot dogs.
Protect your brand and ensure food safety and with a quality management system
Sara Lee, a Fortune 500 company at the time of its misdemeanor guilty plea, is still in business today, its latest salmonella-linked recall occurred in Nov 2012. ConAgra, also a Fortune 500 company, reopened its Sylvester, GA plant after $15 million in renovations, but is also not recall-free since the 2007 peanut butter debacle. The most recent ConAgra recall linked to salmonella occurred in June 2010 involving 29 people in 14 states.
Sara Lee’s plea deal set a precedent for ConAgra. Even though Sara Lee’s 2001 outbreak killed 15 and PCA’s outbreak killed 9, PCA doesn’t have the same options — its bankruptcy filing makes it unable to pay its way out of trouble, hence the indictments against its executives. Money might not be able to buy happiness, but in Sara Lee’s and ConAgra’s cases, it can help settle some serious troubles.