News & Perspective

CIDRAP News – President Barack Obama called today for a "complete review" of the operations of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the wake of the ongoing outbreak of Salmonella in peanuts and peanut butter.

(CIDRAP News) – The case count in the nationwide Salmonella outbreak tied to peanut butter climbed to 550 yesterday, as federal officials announced an effort to use "social media" such as podcasts and YouTube videos to keep consumers abreast of product recalls and other developments in the outbreak.

(CIDRAP News) – A woman whose 7-year-old son became severely ill after eating tainted peanut butter crackers told a Senate committee today that the nation needs an electronic registry of foodborne disease cases to help public health agencies recognize outbreaks and find their causes faster.

(CIDRAP News) – Today we are launching a new daily News Scan to help our readers keep up with the full range of current and noteworthy developments in emerging infectious diseases, biosecurity, foodborne diseases, influenza, other public health threats, and relevant policy issues.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials recently amended their inspection report on the peanut processing plant tied to the current nationwide Salmonella outbreak to say that in a number of cases the company shipped products before getting test results, rather than after getting conflicting results on successive tests.

(CDRAP News) – Angry Congress members vowed to give federal food safety regulators more power today as executives from the peanut processing company linked to the nationwide Salmonella outbreak refused to answer questions at a committee hearing.

(CIDRAP News) – A news report over the weekend linked six Salmonella cases in Colorado to peanut butter made from peanuts produced by Peanut Corp. of America's (PCA's) plant in Plainview, Tex., but the natural-foods retail chain that made the peanut butter says tests have found no contamination in samples.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offered additional evidence today that the Peanut Corp of America (PCA) plant in Blakely, Ga., may not be the only PCA facility that has contributed to the nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to peanut products.

Editor's note: The item on the Salmonella outbreak was revised Feb 19 to correct information on case numbers for specific states.