On Monday, November 26, 2012, Food and Drug Commissioner Margaret Hamburg issued an order suspending the food facility registration of Sunland Inc., a New Mexico-based producer of peanut products. The food facility is alleged to have produced peanut products containing strands of Salmonella, which can cause serious adverse health consequences for humans. FDA inspected Sunland’s plant in September and October 2012 during a month-long investigation, and found samples of Salmonella throughout Sunland’s plant, in nut butter samples, and in a sample of raw peanuts.
The suspension order means Sunland cannot introduce food products from its facility into interstate or intrastate commerce unless the order is vacated or remanded. See Letter to Sunland Inc. Concerning Suspension of Food Facility Registration. The suspension of its FDA registration effectively shuts Sunland down and prevents the company from selling its products.
The suspension of Sunland’s registration is an exercise of FDA’s new suspension powers brought about by the 2011 Food Safety and Modernization Act (“FSMA”). For more information on the suspension of Sunland’s FDA registration, see In a FSMA First, FDA Suspends a Food Facility’s Registration.