Cookie-Dough Contamination Remains in the News; E. Coli Found at Plant
According to news sources, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors have found E. coli in a package of cookie dough at Nestlé USA’s plant in Danville, Virginia. The strain did not, however, match the DNA fingerprint of the strain purportedly linked to the illnesses of some 72 people in 30 states. FDA’s David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety, commenting on the continuing mystery as to how the E. coli contaminated the cookie dough, was quoted as saying, “This will be one of those situations where we won’t definitely know what went wrong.” The agency’s findings could affect the product liability lawsuits already pending in several states.
Investigators reportedly performed more than 1,000 tests on environmental and other samples from the plant, but found no evidence of the potentially deadly bacteria inside the facility or on any equipment. The company has apparently begun a “controlled production startup” after discarding all stockpiled ingredients and dismantling, inspecting and cleaning all parts of the production line. A Nestlé spokesperson
said that every cookie dough ingredient in the future will undergo “very extensive pretesting.” See ABC News, July 9, 2009; The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2009.
