Investigation Resources: An Overview
- From the beginning of the recalls associated with the salmonella outbreak related to the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), FDA has notified its regulatory counterparts in more than 50 countries and non-US territories that their country or territory may have received recalled peanuts or peanut products.
- Within 24 hours of PCA’s expanded recall on January 18, 2009, FDA launched a searchable database. The searchable database, which has been updated daily since it was developed, has assisted consumers in quickly identifying recalled products on a real-time basis. As of March 11, 2009, the database included more than 3,400 entries in 18 categories representing human and pet food products recalled by more than 300 firms. Photos, when provided by recalling firms, have been included in the searchable database since January 29, 2009.
- FDA and its state regulatory counterparts have contacted more than 16,000 firms throughout the entire distribution chain, including direct accounts, sub-accounts, and retail accounts to facilitate the removal of products from the market. The number of firms contacted continues to increase as new recalls are initiated and distribution lists are received.
- FDA initiated appropriate follow-up activities at 100 percent of the direct consignees of PCA's Blakely, Georgia facility to ensure that all of these firms were contacted, visited, or accounted for. FDA and the states are now in the process of conducting appropriate follow-up activities at the direct consignees of PCA’s Plainview, Texas facility. In both instances, these follow-up activities have resulted in additional visits and contacts at those firms further down the distribution chain that also may have received recalled products or incorporated recalled products as ingredients into other foods.
- All of the recalls that have been conducted are voluntary. In at least one instance, a firm initiated a voluntary recall by looking at the FDA searchable database and, after determining that one of the ingredients it used during its manufacturing process was under recall, initiated its own recall – even before receiving a recall letter from its supplier.
