Thursday, April 26, 2007
Reprinted below is an article which appeared today in a South Carolina on-line news source. Mr. Hood, the attorney quoted in the article, worked closely with Mr. Orlando and Mr. Karnas during the recent Sylvester, Georgia ConAgra food plant inspection (that is, we combined resources and efforts to get the job done.) Through publicly assessable documents filed in the South Carolina case, the news story was able to contain matter we declined to include during our last report to you. Now, with this information's disclosure, we are eager to share this information with you, and further to validate its accuracy. Yes, we were there:
Lawyer alleges rodents found near peanuts at processing plant in Ga.
A Rock Hill attorney found a dead rat, rat traps and roaches when he inspected a peanut butter manufacturing plant linked to salmonella lawsuits, according to court documents.
Attorney Randall Hood of Rock Hill and about 15 other attorneys were inspecting a ConAgra Foods plant in Sylvester, Ga., on April 9 and 13 when they found the dead rat, more than 100 rat traps, bird feathers inside the plant, roaches crawling on raw peanuts, peanut dust covering machinery and other things “consistent with salmonella contamination,” according to a court document.
The feathers could indicate birds were flying free in the facility, the document said.
“I did not expect to find a dead rodent, bird feathers and rat traps on the inside and outside of the facility because this is a manufacturing plant for an edible product,” said Hood, the attorney for a Rock Hill woman who claims in a lawsuit that she got salmonella from contaminated ConAgra peanut butter.
Hood’s court document was filed Tuesday in response to a request by ConAgra — maker of Peter Pan peanut butter and Great Value peanut butter recalled in February — to force attorneys to delay some of their efforts to gather information for lawsuits filed against the company. ConAgra is asking for all of the lawsuits to be put at a standstill until a judicial panal decides if one judge will oversee all the cases or if separate judges will rule on individual cases.
Judges in some states have granted the company’s request, according to court documents.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration warned customers not to eat Peter Pan peanut butter purchased since May 2006 or either Peter Pan or Great Value brands of peanut butter with a product code that begins with 2111.
Company officials closed the plant Feb. 14, said company spokeswoman Stephanie Chiles.
As of March 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified 425 salmonella cases in 44 states, according to the agency’s Web site. The Web site said the cases had been linked by the FDA to Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter.
No one has died, although 71 people were hospitalized.
Salmonella is a bacteria that lives in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals, such as birds. It can be transmitted to humans through foods contaminated with animal feces, according to the CDC.
The court document filed by Hood claims the FDA had concerns about salmonella contamination at the plant as early as 2005 and the company “refused to cooperate.” The document also claims that ConAgra now is trying to “impede the progress” of attorneys suing the company.
“ConAgra’s impediments to the flow of information is simply a ruse to slow down and stop discovery of the real reason that the peanut butter at the Sylvester, Ga., plant was contaminated by salmonella,” the document states.
The same document also notes a lawyer was threatened with arrest for attempting to collect and preserve a dead rodent found at the facility.
ConAgra’s Chiles would neither confirm nor deny the attorneys’ findings or the arrest threat.
“The allegations may or may not have any merit whatsoever,” Chiles said Wednesday. “The entire purpose of arranging for the plaintiffs’ lawyers to inspect the facility was so we could expedite the process for addressing consumer concerns about our product and any harm it may have caused.”
A press release issued April 5 by ConAgra notes the company believes that moisture inadvertently entered the production process and allowed the growth of low levels of dormant salmonella in the environment that were likely present from raw products or peanut dust.
The release notes the company plans to reopen the plant after making several upgrades, including the installation of new machinery, technology and designs throughout the plant.
In addition, the company appointed a food safety expert to a leadership position and formed a food safety advisory committee, according to the news release. The release notes that the company will resume shipping Peter Pan peanut butter to retailers this summer.
Gary Rodkin, ConAgra Foods’ chief executive officer, said in the release the company is committed to the highest possible standards of food safety.
“We are truly sorry for any harm that our peanut butter products caused and intend to resolve claims related to peanut butter fairly and expeditiously,” he said.
Hood’s client, Rock Hill resident Annie Blackwell, then 56, became ill after eating the peanut butter purchased at a local store in February, according to her lawsuit.
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