Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, holds up a container holding products made with peanut butter from the Peanut Corporation of America at a House hearing Wednesday.

A BOY WITH SALMONELLA A BOY WITH SALMONELLA Peanut Corp. of America President Stewart Parnell USA TODAY Enlarge By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Peter Hurley kisses his son Jacob at a House hearing Wednesday. Jacob became ill after eating contaminated peanut butter cookies. Peanut boss refuses to testify at salmonella hearing The head of the company linked to a massive salmonella outbreak in peanut products refused to testify at a Congressional hearing Wednesday as lawmakers accused him of caring more about profits than food safety. Peanut Corporation of America President Stewart Parnell invoked his fifth amendment right not to testify, as did the plant manager at the Blakely, Ga., plant implicated in the outbreak, during the hearing before a House subcommittee. Both men also refused to eat recalled products that one lawmaker offered to them from a jar. CALLS FOR REFORM: 'Total systemic breakdown' BAD FOR BUSINESS: Scare sends peanut butter sales diving The Food and Drug Administration has said that PCA distributed products in 2007 and 2008 that had tested positive for salmonella. The products should not have been shipped, the FDA says.The outbreak has sickened more than 600 people may have contributed to nine deaths. More than 1,900 products have been recalled. A criminal probe is underway. VIDEO: One boy's sickening from salmonella HEALTH: Risks may extend beyond reported victims VIRGINIA: Peanut blanching plants had salmonella risks "We are shocked at what's been going on in this company," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., at the hearing. He displayed a document showing that Parnell on Jan. 12 — a day before PCA's first recall — wrote to employees "we have never found any salmonella" and blamed the news media for creating a stir. The hearing revealed a few new details about PCA and company e-mails indicating internal frustration about repeated tests showing positive results for salmonella. In a June 2008 email, obtained by the congressional committee, Parnell was told that a product was "put on hold" after a presumptive positive on salmonella and that it was being retested. "I go thru this about once a week," Parnell responded. "I will hold my breath … again." Two months later another e-mail exchange indicates that PCA had a product test positive for salmonella that was then retested by another lab and got a negative result. In response, Parnell wrote: "Let's turn them loose then." The FDA says it's well known in the industry that such product should be destroyed as salmonella can be missed in tests. Parnell also expressed concern about testing costs. According to another email, the plant manager told him last September that a product had been shipped that tested positive for salmonella. The product would be retested, he was told. The plant manager also told Parnell that customers receiving the product should put it on hold. A week later, an e-mail from Parnell said, "We need to discuss this …. The time lapse … is costing us huge $$$$$" and that PCA needed to "protect our self and the problem is that the tests absolutely give us no protection." The hearing also revealed that as far back as 2006, the plant had a salmonella finding, potentially linked to Chinese-supplied organic peanuts, according to company records. In November, 2006, a private lab hired by PCA said in a letter to the company that its roasting step — a kill step for salmonella — hadn't been adequately checked for efficiency and noted that improvements were underway. After an inspection last month, the FDA said the plant failed to show that its roasting was an effective kill step. JLA USA, one of several private labs that PCA hired to test its products, also told lawmakers that it tested 1,000 samples for PCA from Jan. 1, 2007 through Sept., 2008 and found 10 positives. JLA also told the committee that PCA had shipped product to Utah before a test result turned up positive and that it was told that PCA would destroy the product out west rather than have it returned to Georgia. JLA President Darlene Cowart told the committee that it appeared that PCA largely dropped JLA as a lab because the lab found higher bacterial counts in its products than did others. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety, told lawmakers the FDA wanted new authorities to tighten oversight, specifically the right to receive internal test results during routine FDA inspections. The FDA didn't know about PCA's internal test results showing salmonella until it requested them after the outbreak was underway. Such records are not available to the FDA during routine inspections, Sundlof said. The PCA plant in Blakely, Ga. has been closed for weeks. PCA's Texas plant was shut Monday after testing there also revealed salmonella. It's not clear yet whether that salmonella is linked to the outbreak strain. The case has turned a spotlight on gaps in the USA's food safety net. The FDA relied on Georgia state inspectors to check PCA's Blakely, plant and they found only minor violations. The FDA noted more serious deficiencies in a 14-day inspection after the outbreak was underway. Major food makers relied on audits that PCA paid for to guarantee that their processes were good. Private labs that tested products for contamination and found positives gave that information to the company — the typical industry practice — because there are no laws that they inform regulators. The plant in Texas went unlicensed and uninspected for four years because the state didn't know it was there. "We appear to have a total systemic breakdown," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and chairman of the oversight sub-committee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which held the hearing. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more