NBC 4 Investigates Ohio Food Processors

COLUMBUS, Ohio—In the last month or so, you’ve probably looked in your cupboard and wondered whether you should eat that peanut butter.

There is still fallout from the largest salmonella outbreak in years and the company that’s accused of distributing the tainted peanut butter has filed for bankruptcy.

But that made NBC 4 wonder about other foods and foods processed in Ohio.

Clifford Tousignant survived The Korean War. Shirley Almer beat cancer twice. They both died from eating peanut butter.

“Our family feels cheated. My mom should be here today,“ said Jeffrey Almer, Shirley’s son.

The company is accused of knowingly selling tainted products.

So far, there have been 640 confirmed cases in 44 states and nine deaths have been linked to the outbreak.

Every year, nearly one-fourth of Americans get sick with food poisoning.

The Centers for Disease Control said there are more than 250 food-related types of illnesses that include viruses, bacteria, parasites and more.

In Ohio, the Department of Agriculture is in charge of checking food safety.

In 2007, just for Ohio’s dairy industry, the department’s inspectors were checking more than 3,400 food producers every six months, nearly 100 processors and ten transfer stations every three months and another 130 hauling companies for the year.

NBC 4‘s Marshall McPeek dug deeper and requested the 2008 inspection reports for the state’s meat producers. There are more than 225 of them and they’re inspected every day.

In January, inspectors wrote about a ready-to-eat product from Cincinnati: “The product was not voluntary retained by plant management … approximately 15 pounds of product of which 5 pounds was shipped into commerce and sold … tested positive for salmonella.“

Other reports list “listeria not being controlled,“ “employees cross-contaminating themselves,“ and places where salmonella “would be expected in raw products.“

“We do a lot of testing of product,“ said Dr. Mike Hockman, chief of the Division of Meat Inspection.

Hockman is in charge of the state’s 94 meat inspectors. He said most plants take care of issues quickly.

“But in the real world, it does in some cases, happen again and again and again. And it’s under those conditions where we would respond by taking more drastic action to get compliance,“ Hockman said.

He said the state will shut down any plan that has egregious problems or treat animals inhumanely.

Gov. Ted Strickland’s latest budget makes cuts throughout the state’s agencies, including the department of agriculture.

But, Hockman said he does not expect to lose any inspectors and he expects the Ohio food supply to be just as safe as always.

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