Press Releases at EMSL

A recent court case involving an American peanut company has raised questions on food safety. As of September 22, 2015, parties involved in shipping contaminated products to facilities for manufacturing and distribution have been sentenced to jail time for their roles. According to news reports, peanuts were not tested before being transported based on evidence from the case. This resulted in a Salmonella outbreak that caused the death of nine people and over 700 others to become ill.

 

Salmonella food poisoning can cause fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after exposure. Typically, these symptoms occur for four to seven days. Most individuals infected with Salmonella recover without treatment. However, severe illnesses may occur for those with weaken immune systems, young children, and the elderly. In some cases, hospitalization is required.

 

“EMSL offers Salmonella testing services at 13 of our laboratory locations for food and safety professionals,” stated Joy Dell’Aringa, M.S., RM (NRM), CFSP, National Food Microbiology Supervisor at EMSL. “Our Raleigh food and beverage testing laboratory is also approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) and has been accepted into the Domestic Peanut Afflation Program.”

 

Currently, all peanuts intended for human consumption must be analyzed. Laboratories analyzing official samples of peanuts must be USDA or USDA-approved laboratories.

 

EMSL Raleigh is located at 2500 Gateway Centre Boulevard in Morrisville, North Carolina. For service questions, please contact Jay Rucker for expert information at 843-628-3132 or email jrucker@EMSL.com. For more information about EMSL’s food testing division, please contact EMSL at 1-800-220-3675, info@EMSL.com, or visit www.FoodTestingLab.com or www.EMSL.com.