The Georgia peanut company that produced peanut paste implicated in making 500 people nationwide sick with salmonella poisoning apparently knew that its product was contaminated but sent it out anyway, according to a federal inspection report.

Peanut butter made by Peanut Corporation of America had tested positive for salmonella in June, August and September. The company continued to use the product after other tests were negative.

Peanut Corp. was also cited for dirty conditions, including mold growing on the ceiling and wall near where finished product was stored.

Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specialized in food safety, posted the “inspection report”:http://www.marlerblog.com/uploads/file/Blakely%20GA%20Form%20483.pdf on his Web site today.

Marler represented the family of an Orangeburg girl who nearly died in 2002 after contracting E. coli poisoning from a hamburger made of chopped meat purchased at BJ’s Wholesale Club in West Nyack.

The Rockland family reached an $11 million settlement with BJs.

The “Food and Drug Administration”:http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm has a database of foods that might contain peanut butter or peanut paste that has been linked to an outbreak of salmonella.

The agency updates the list daily as the number of companies found to have used peanut products made by Peanut Corp. of America increases to 1,000.
Nearly 500 people nationwide, including  17 in New York, have been sickened in the outbreak. Eight deaths have been reported that appeared to be associated with the outbreak