North Carolina’s Response to the Peanut Butter Incident

Joseph W. Reardon, Director

Food & Drug Protection Division

Timeline Earliest onset of illness, according to CDC 9/08/08

CDC monitors illnesses in 12 states11/10/08

MN identifies Salmonella in King Nut peanut butter

1st recall by PCA initiated1/10/09

FDA finds 12 instances of PCA shipping contaminated product 1/13/09

PCA expands recall to include all peanut paste1/18/09

1/16/09 PCA expands peanut butter recall

1/28/09 Recall expands to include all peanut products made in GA firm

2/12/09 PCA in TX initiates recall of peanut products

PCA (TX and GA) informs customers to stop using all products2/20/09

4/04/09 Last illness reported

5/12/09 Last recall initiated

Impact of PCA Peanut Butter Recall

• Public health– US: 9 deaths and 714 illnesses– NC: 1 death and 6 illnesses

• Consumer confidence eroded– US: 2,833 food products recalled– NC: 3 food and 2 animal feed manufacturers

directly impacted

Impact of PCA Peanut Butter Recall

• Economic impact– US: Estimated $1 BILLION impact

– US: 20% decline in peanut butter consumption in January

– NC: 23% decline in

peanuts planted

– NC: Substantial number

of employees laid-off

Laboratory

PlanningMFRPS

ICS

Technology

Rapid Response

ICS

• Integration of Federal, state, and local resources

• Holistic management of an event– Common objectives– Situational awareness– Maximize resources

Planning• Food Emergency Response Plan

– ICS and unified command – Technical Advisory Group– Triggers – Exercise, train, and revise

• NC Food Safety and Defense Task Force– Foundation of public-private and interagency

partnerships

Technology Real-time data

Situational awareness

Accurate decisions

Rapid response

Mitigate incident

Web-based tools

• Recall effectiveness

• Task tracker

• After action reporting

• Finance tracker

Laboratory

• Investments in rapid testing capabilities coupled with ISO 17025 accreditation

Laboratory

• Surge capacity– Partnering states Colorado, Florida, Indiana,

Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio

• PFGE: NC Public Health Laboratory

Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards

• Continuous improvement program– Training and auditing– Regulations– Risk-based inspections and resources – Emergency preparedness– Outreach– Laboratory resources

• Parallels goals of the Food Safety Enhancement Act

Incident Identification

Containment

Disposal and Decontaminate

Recovery and Mitigation

Prevention

What is rapid response?

We typically think linearly

Prevention

Recovery and Mitigation

Disposal and Decontaminate

Containment

Incident Identification

Rapid response is when events are happening concurrently or in parallel

Rapid Response

Incident Identification

• Traceback investigation– FDA– NCDA&CS

• Major snack manufacturer receiver of PCA peanut paste

• Four additional firms directly impacted

Containment

• Within the affected major snack foods manufacturer– Halt production– Obtain environmental baseline – In-line and finished product testing– Witness disposal

Containment

• Across the state– Recall effectiveness checks– Oversee activities at other affected firms– Traceback/forward investigations

• Transparency– Industry– Public– Regulatory partners

Decontamination

• Firm developed decontamination and restoration plan

• Approved and confirmed by regulatory agencies– Physical verification of cleaning and sanitation– Auditing of procedures and records– Environmental and finished product sampling

RecoveryExtensive Finished Product Testing

Day 1 7 samples / machine / 24 hr

Line Machines Samples Sub-

samplesPacks of crackers

100 7 49 1568 4704

200 3 21 672 2016

400 8 56 1792 5376

126 4032 12,096Samples collected on Day 2 and 3 of production

Finished Product Sampling Snack Manufacturer

162 samples 5,184 subsamples

15,552 packs of crackers

Recovery

• Commissioner Steve Troxler orders in-depth inspections at all peanut butter manufacturers

• Transparent public information campaign

Total Samples Collected During PCA Peanut Butter Incident

Enviro.

SwabsIngredient

Finished Product

Snack Foods 249 58 224

Peanut Processors (5)

294 6 20

Ice Cream (2) 15 0 1

Animal

Feed/Treats (2)15 1 5

Total 573 65 250

Entire Response573 environmental samples

315 samples8,316 subsamples

North Carolina’s

Response Required

6,209 man hours31,964 miles

$248,588.20

Prevention

• Workshop held– New science behind Salmonella– Review of regulations– Lessons learned

• Enhanced routine inspections– Environmental sampling– Finished product sampling