1. North Carolina’s Response to the Peanut Butter Incident
It’s a pleasure to share we place in food safety. The Commissioner has challenged us to build the best program in the county and we are doing that.
Joseph W. Reardon, Director
Food & Drug Protection Division

2. Timeline 9/08/08 11/10/08 1/10/09 1/13/09 1/16/09 1/18/09 1/28/09
Earliest onset of illness, according to CDC
9/08/08
CDC monitors illnesses in 12 states
11/10/08
MN identifies Salmonella in King Nut peanut butter
1st recall by PCA initiated
1/10/09
FDA finds 12 instances of PCA shipping contaminated product
1/13/09
1/16/09
PCA expands peanut butter recall
PCA expands recall to include all peanut paste
1/18/09
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 products
2/20/09
4/04/09
Last illness reported
5/12/09
Last recall initiated

3. 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

4. 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

6. Laboratory
Planning
MFRPS
ICS
Technology
Rapid Response

7. ICS Integration of Federal, state, and local resources
Holistic management of an event
Common objectives
Situational awareness
Maximize resources

8. 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

9. Situational awareness
Technology
Real-time data
Situational awareness
Accurate decisions
Rapid response
Mitigate incident
Web-based tools
Recall effectiveness
Task tracker
After action reporting
Finance tracker

10. Laboratory
Investments in rapid testing capabilities coupled with ISO accreditation

11. Laboratory Surge capacity PFGE: NC Public Health Laboratory
Partnering states Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio
PFGE: NC Public Health Laboratory

12. 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

13. Incident Identification Recovery and Mitigation
What is rapid response?
We typically think linearly
Containment
Disposal and
Decontaminate
Recovery and Mitigation
Prevention

14. Rapid response is when events are happening concurrently or in parallel
Incident Identification
Containment
Rapid Response
Disposal and Decontaminate
Recovery and Mitigation
Prevention

15. Incident Identification
Traceback investigation
FDA
NCDA&CS
Major snack manufacturer receiver of PCA peanut paste
Four additional firms directly impacted

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

17. Containment Across the state Transparency Recall effectiveness checks
Oversee activities at other affected firms
Traceback/forward investigations
Transparency
Industry
Public
Regulatory partners

18. 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

19. Recovery Extensive Finished Product Testing
Day 1
7 samples / machine / 24 hr
Line
Machines
Samples
Sub-samples
Packs of crackers
100 7 49
1568
4704
200 3 21
672
2016
400 8 56
1792
5376
126
4032
12,096
Samples collected on Day 2 and 3 of production

20. Finished Product Sampling Snack Manufacturer 162 samples 5,184 subsamples 15,552 packs of crackers

21. Recovery
Commissioner Steve Troxler orders in-depth inspections at all peanut butter manufacturers
Transparent public information campaign

22. Total Samples Collected During PCA Peanut Butter Incident
Enviro.
Swabs
Ingredient
Finished Product
Snack Foods
249 58
224
Peanut Processors (5)
294 6 20
Ice Cream (2) 15 1
Animal
Feed/Treats (2) 5
Total
573 65
250
10 companies representing 4 industries were thoroughly inspected as part of trace back and trace forward investigations of peanut processors in North Carolina. Some of these companies had direct links to PCA, and some were investigated upon order from the Commissioner.
In total, over 880 samples were collected and analyzed. Many of the finished product samples from the snack food industry were shipped to participating FERN labs to assist with analysis. These samples were collected between January and April 2009.
The snack food industry comprised the majority of our resources and efforts.

23. Entire Response 573 environmental samples 315 samples 8,316 subsamples

24. North Carolina’s
Response Required
6,209 man hours 31,964 miles
$248,588.20

25. Prevention Workshop held Enhanced routine inspections
New science behind Salmonella
Review of regulations
Lessons learned
Enhanced routine inspections
Environmental sampling
Finished product sampling