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After illness, Peter Pan will be back

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 6, 2007

OMAHA, Neb. - Moisture from a leaky roof and faulty sprinkler helped salmonella bacteria grow and contaminate peanut butter at its Georgia plant last year, sickening more than 400 people nationwide, ConAgra Foods said Thursday.

The Omaha company conducted a nearly two-month investigation into the contamination and pledged to ensure that Peter Pan peanut butter is safe when it returns to stores in mid July.

"We plan to do our best to regain consumer trust once Peter Pan returns to stores," ConAgra spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said.

Childs said the company traced the salmonella outbreak to a roof leak and two sprays from a faulty sprinkler at its Sylvester, Ga., plant in August. The moisture mixed with dormant salmonella bacteria that Childs said likely came from raw peanuts and peanut dust.

The plant was cleaned thoroughly after the roof leak and sprinkler problem, but the salmonella remained and somehow came in contact with peanut butter before it was packaged, she said.

ConAgra recalled all its peanut butter in February after federal health officials linked it to cases of salmonella infection. At least 425 people in 44 states were sickened, and lawsuits have been filed.

The recall covered all Peter Pan peanut butter and all Great Value peanut butter made at the Sylvester plant since October 2004. That plant is ConAgra's only peanut butter plant.

The company plans to redesign the plant to provide greater separation between raw peanuts and the finished product, Childs said. The plant will also get a new roof.

More information

For more on the cleanup, visit the Web site of ConAgra Foods Inc.: www.conagrafoods.com.

[Last modified April 6, 2007, 01:35:36]