Because the company has a theory as to how salmonella got into Peter Pan in the first place. For an undetermined period of time, broken sprinkler heads dripped inside the Sylvester plant while rainwater seeped through the factory's leaky roof.
The moisture from those sources may have awakened dormant salmonella bacteria in peanut dust or in stocks of raw peanuts. That what ConAgra's Colo told the US Congress back in April. ConAgra's finished-product tests missed the contamination, Colo testified. The company then trucked jars to distribution centres and from there to Wal-Mart, Dollar General, Kroger and other supermarkets, warehouse clubs, food distributors and restaurants across the US.
At last count, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 628 people in 47 states got sick.
"When we asked people who were sick: 'Can you take out your jar and tell us the brand and lot code?'," says Anandi Sheth, a CDC doctor who investigated the outbreak, "we repeatedly saw Peter Pan and Great Value and lot code 2111."
That's the data string ConAgra's uses to identify products made in Sylvester. For example, one bad batch was coded "21115055 00 1037A". After the 2111, the 5 indicated 2005, the year made; 055 was Julian date, for the 55th day of the year; 1037 was military time; and A showed which production line within the factory.
How Recalls (and Peanut Butter) Stick
While Peter Pan returned to stores in time for back-to-school shopping in late August, and a new "Miss Georgia Peanut Festival" was crowned on schedule in October at the annual event ConAgra sponsors, the company predicts sales won't return to pre-salmonella heights anytime soon.
ConAgra CFO Andre Hawaux told financial analysts in June that peanut butter "will be a lower profit contributor" next year, even compared with this troubled year's figure. That's "due to relaunch investments and lower [sales] volume planned". he said.
Predictably lawsuits abound. Parents are suing on behalf of their children; a prisoner in upstate New York serving 12 years for manslaughter got sick and he's suing, too. In another suit, a man says his wife, after eating Peter Pan, had to have her gallbladder removed, which meant he subsequently "suffered the loss of spousal and other services commonly provided by his wife".
Sixty-seven cases, including that of Hein, the Iowa mom, were consolidated in July in US District Court in Atlanta, accusing the company of, among other charges, negligence and liability for product defects. ConAgra has denied all charges.
Hein and her children have recovered, but they no longer eat Peter Pan.
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