http://news.yahoo.com/fda-halts-oper...215857415.html

"In a monthlong investigation in September and October, after the
outbreak linked to processor Sunland and to Trader Joe's, FDA
inspectors found samples of salmonella in 28 different locations in
the plant, in 13 nut butter samples and in one sample of raw peanuts.

The agency also found improper handling of the products, unclean
equipment and uncovered trailers of peanuts outside the facility that
were exposed to rain and birds.

The FDA said that over the past three years, the company shipped
products even though portions of their lots, or daily production runs,
tested positive for salmonella in internal tests. The agency also
found that the internal tests failed to find salmonella when it was
present.

FDA inspectors found many of the same problems — including employees
putting their bare fingers in to empty jars before they were filled,
open bags of ingredients, unclean equipment, and many other violations
— in a 2007 inspection. Similar problems were recorded by inspectors
in 2009, 2010 and 2011, though government officials didn't take any
action or release the results of those inspections until after the
illnesses were discovered this year.

In a statement earlier this month, Sunland officials denied that they
knowingly shipped tainted products.

"At no time in its 24-year history has Sunland, Inc. released for
distribution any products that it knew to be potentially contaminated
with harmful microorganisms," Sunland president and CEO Jimmie Shearer
said in a statement on the company's website. "In every instance where
test results indicated the presence of a contaminant, the implicated
product was destroyed and not released for distribution."

A separate peanut butter outbreak in 2009 not related to Sunland was
linked to hundreds of illnesses and nine deaths."