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Tainted US peanut paste foods banned

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-04 07:42

China has banned food imports from 11 United States-based companies whose products have been tainted with peanut butter or paste that contain salmonella bacteria, China's quality regulator has said.

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The 11 food manufacturers listed by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) include the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), considered the source of the contamination, and breakfast cereal maker Kellogg.

All companies have peanut butter or peanut paste products, which were recently recalled by US authorities because the items were contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium while being processed at a Georgia plant of the PCA, causing an outbreak of the bacteria.

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning are said to usually appear within 12 to 72 hours of eating contaminated food and can cause diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headaches, stomach cramps and fever.

The ban on the affected products is necessary to protect the health of Chinese consumers and those who have bought the tainted foods should not consume them, the AQSIQ said.

An inspection led by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reportedly found PCA's plant "not compliant with current good manufacturing practices required by the FDA".

It uncovered problems related to cleaning procedures as well as a "failure to implement steps to mitigate salmonella contamination in the facility".

Some 400 food products containing PCA butter have been recalled in the United States.