CHICAGO - DEAD mice and rodent droppings were found throughout a Texas plant run by a company whose peanut products caused one of the biggest food recalls in US history, food inspectors reported on Tuesday.
US Food and Drug Administration inspectors who for the first time visited the Plainview, Texas, food processing plant run by Peanut Corporation of America were clearly disgusted by what they found last month.
'Effective measures are not being taken to exclude pests from the processing areas and protect against the contamination of food on the premises by pests,' the report reads.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says 677 people in 45 states have been sickened in the outbreak of salmonella food poisoning, which is still going on, and which has been traced to two of the company's plants in Georgia and Texas.
So far, more than 2,833 products have been pulled from store shelves since mid-January, although not brand names of peanut butter, which are not affected.
The recall is the latest in a series involving tainted lettuce, peppers and spinach that have eroded public confidence in food safety and renewed calls for change at the FDA.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation on Tuesday that would widen FDA powers to control food safety.
The CDC said while the number of new cases has declined modestly since December, the outbreak is continuing, noting that many people who have become ill recently reported eating peanut butter and other recalled products.
'FDA and CDC are concerned that illness will continue to occur if people eat recalled peanut-containing products that are still on their shelves at home,' the CDC said on its website.
'Consumers should check at home for recalled peanut butter containing products and discard them,' the CDC urged.
Peanut Corp. has declared bankruptcy and has been unavailable for comment. Company officials declined to speak to Congress about the outbreak at a hearing last month. -- REUTERS