News tagged with peanut corp

Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was a peanut-processing business founded in 1977 and headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was forced out of business in 2009 after investigations into the 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak in the United States showed that this company was the source of the salmonella in this outbreak.

PCA operated processing facilities in Blakely, Georgia; Suffolk, Virginia; and Plainview, Texas. The company supplied peanuts, peanut butter, peanut meal, and peanut paste to institutional users such as schools and nursing homes, to food processors who used them in a wide range of products from cookies and snacks to dog treats and ice cream, and to retail outlets such as dollar stores.

Peanut Corporation of America had 90 employees and did $25 million in sales in 2008. The company manufactured roughly 2.5 percent of the nation’s processed peanuts.

The company was sued by American Candy Co. after the FDA discovered in 1990 that PCA's peanut butter exceeded the FDA tolerance level for aflatoxin, a toxic mold product. American Candy turned the peanut butter into 8,000 cases of "kisses" for Wal-Mart, which were not shipped. Another lawsuit was brought by Zachary Confections Inc. of Frankfort, Indiana in 1991 after a 40,020-pound shipment of nuts from PCA was found to have an unacceptably high level of aflatoxin. There had been concerns about sanitation at the company since at least the mid-1980s.

On February 13, 2009, Peanut Corporation of America filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. At least a dozen civil lawsuits have been filed while the federal criminal investigation continues.