The AP (2/18, Lindsey) reports, “The peanut processor at the heart of the national salmonella outbreak has shut down the last of its plants, which was the only one that hasn’t been linked to possible contamination, an attorney for the company said on Tuesday.” Tidewater Blanching in southeastern Virginia “closed on Friday, the same day that Lynchburg-based Peanut Corp. of America filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.” As with PCA’s facilities in Georgia and Texas, Virginia “state inspectors had found minor problems at the Suffolk plant in 2007 and 2008, including flaking paint and evidence of rodents,” problems that they classified as “minor.”
US “lucky” salmonella strain wasn’t antibiotic resistant. The Los Angeles Times (2/18) reports in its Booster Shots blog, “There was one lucky break in the ongoing salmonella outbreak that has so far led to 637 confirmed illnesses in 44 states and may be linked to nine deaths: The strain of salmonella involved responds to antibiotics.” Salmonella “belongs to a large category of bacteria called ‘gram-negative,'” which are “especially hard to fight because they are wrapped in a double membrane and harbor enzymes that chew up many antibiotics.” According to the CDC, some salmonella strains “have become resistant” to antibiotics, and “four years ago, the Infectious Diseases Society of America sounded the alarm about the dearth of new wonder drugs to treat antibiotic superbugs.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
