Food companies work to ensure safety from salmonella

As the list of food suspected of salmonella contamination continues to grow, food safety experts recounting a similar outbreak two years ago are asking why some lessons from the past have not been universally learned.

In February 2007, the industry giant ConAgra Foods of Omaha, Neb., recalled thousands of jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter because tests revealed salmonella contamination. The product had been shipped to all 50 states and 60 foreign countries. The bacterial problem was traced to a ConAgra peanut-processing plant in Sylvester, Ga.

In response, ConAgra remodeled the entire plant, separating the areas for raw peanuts from finished peanut butter and paste, which must remain sterile. With the source so difficult to trace, that was the safest way to assure it didn't happen again, experts said. No ConAgra products are named in the current outbreak.

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