Moisture led to salmonella outbreak
ConAgra Foods said Thursday April 5th, that moisture from a leaky roof and faulty sprinkler was the source of the salmonella bacteria that contaminated peanut butter at its Georgia plant sickening more than 400 people nationwide. The Omaha-based 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. The plant's roof leaked during a rainstorm, and the sprinkler system went off twice because of a faulty sprinkler, which was repaired. The moisture from those three events mixed with dormant salmonella bacteria in the plant that spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said likely came from raw peanuts and peanut dust. She said 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.
