I am loving this Web Archive Site. I received an email from one of my subscribers asking, “Bill, the CDC and FDA have linked nearly 650 illnesses and nine deaths to PCA’s facility in Blakely, Georgia and the Colorado Department of Health may have linked some of the illnesses to the Plainview, Texas Plant.  In any event, those plants have been closed and a recall of all products from Blakely goes back to January 2007 and in Plainview back to 2005.  According to the FDA, 2233 types of peanut carrying food products have been recalled.  So, why hasn’t the Virginia plant been closed?"  Good question.  It has been closed, but I have not heard that any product has been recalled.  This is what I found about the Virginia Plant on the taken down PCA website:

Equal to the Task.

Tidewater Blanching’s team members have proven, by years of dedicated service, that a small blancher is capable of competing effectively against much larger corporations.

It’s All About the Quality.

We can stand toe-to-toe against our larger rivals because of our consistently high-quality work and our ability to be attentive to customers, both large and small.

It’s No Secret; it’s Common Sense!

Precisely because Tidewater Blanching is a small player by today’s mega-corporation standards, we are uniquely able to offer blanching services tailored to each customer’s specific needs, person-to-person conversations without endless recorded telephone options, and outstanding flexibility with order placement and processing. Short-notice orders are usually no problem. The Tidewater Blanching team will provide you with the kind of service you’d expect from a Peanut Corporation of America company: FIRST-CLASS!

Quality Control Superior Technology

Tidewater Blanching uses machinery that is the newest and best in the industry. Our superior employee training and top-rated Quality Control Program ensures safe, high quality blanching with minimal product loss throughout the process.  The dependable interface between machines and employees helps us deliver consistently high quality in the nuts we process for our customers.

Frankly, given the Bankruptcy, I had assumed that the Virginia plant is closed.  Interestingly, I also found a link to an AIBI Audit in 2004 which gave the Virginia plant a “Superior” rating of 980.   Perhaps that is all the FDA needed.   So much for third-party audits.  I love the confidence shown by AIBI of the Virginia plant in this disclaimer: