Check Food Bought at Safeway, FDA Says

Tacoma News Tribune | 21 Sep 03 | AP

[11B3]

Check food bought at Safeway, FDA says

The Associated Press

A top Food and Drug Administration official stressed Saturday that the tampering concerns being investigated by his agency and the FBI are limited to Safeway stores in Western Washington.

In an interview from Washington, D.C., Peter Pitts, an associate FDA commissioner, said he's "not sure what's being tested and what it's being tested for."

But he said food items purchased recently from Safeway stores should be inspected for indications the packaging has been disturbed or "anything that might look unusual to the consumer."

Items that might have been tampered with should be returned to the store, he said.

The concerns stem from a threatening letter received Thursday by a Safeway store near Port Angeles, according to a Clallam County sheriff's log. The sheriff's office referred inquiries to the FBI and the FDA.

"Part of this investigation will be to determine who is responsible for this letter," said Charles Breen, director of the FDA's regional office.

Federal antitampering law bars both tampering and threats of alleged tampering, which carry a minimum penalty of one year in prison, Pitts said.

FBI spokesman Ray Lauer confirmed his agency's involvement late Friday but declined further comment.

Officials at Safeway's headquarters in Pleasanton, Calif., could not be reached for comment Saturday. There are 1,176 Safeway stores in the United States and Canada.

No actual tamperings or injuries have been reported, the FDA said. The precaution was urged because the anonymous letter described the puncturing of a small number of products.

The warning offered no details.

The state Health Department was "examining a suspicious item found near an area where threats were being received," Lauer said. "We don't know if it's anything until the lab completes its tests."

Health Department spokesman Tim Church confirmed Friday that the lab had been asked to "test a substance" for "any bacterial or biological agents ... any kind of substance that's not supposed to be there."

He said Saturday he did not expect to be able to report developments over the weekend. Test results will go to the FBI, he said.

Safeway employees told the Peninsula Daily News that some store employees were being interviewed by FBI agents.

Lauer did not return a call seeking to confirm a Saturday report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the letter itself was being tested for contaminants.

Anyone with concerns regarding product tampering should call the FDA's emergency operations center at 301-443-1240.

[11B3]

Sounds like another nutcase employee sort of thing. But I hadn't seen this posted and the search engine didn't find it, so to the rest of you in Western Washington heads up.

[maestro]

Sounds like only certain cities are 'targeted'.....??

Watch your '6'....!!

Al-Queda....??

[snippy_about_it]

Ping

[MarMema]

I always shop Albertsons, but thought you should know. :-)

[MarMema]

Thank you very much!

[Rain-maker]

Sabotaged twinkies?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Welll damn...

[randog]

I shop at Safeway. It sure would be nice to know what products they're looking at.

[SAMWolf]

Bump.

[razorback-bert]

Peter Pitts, an associate FDA commissioner, said he's "not sure what's being tested and what it's being tested for."

If Peter doesn't know, just what is he doing there?

[DeepInEnemyTerritory]

I live in Western Washington and shop at my local Safeway at least twice a week. Thanks for the heads up.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The sniper scare traced its roots back to W. Washington.

Chaplain Yee traces back to W. Washington.

An attempt to hurt the economy, or at least a major grocer, by creating a tampered food scare may have just began in W. Washington.

OTOH, could just as well be ELF/anarchist/leftist troublemakers, too. Anything to hurt the economy and the Bush admin. So 2 possible suspects, for starters.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Western Washington Safeways PING.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Oh, you're already here. Sorry. Now I guess you're just going to have to shop at Cost Cutter. : )

[CyberCowboy777]

Washington State Ping List

This is all known Washington State Freepers and interested parties as of 9/23/03
Less those who opted out
If you want on or off this ping list Freepmail me.

[connectthedots]

WinCo has much lower prices than Safeway, which in turn is lower than Albertson's.

[MarMema]

Thanks cowboy. In retrospect I should have put the link on the state board.
They're not telling us what this is about, either. Any clues?

[CyberCowboy777]

This was not even reported in SW.....

[MarMema]

Update here

"Thursday, FBI agents found more than just a warning note attached to a jar of baby food in a local Safeway store. The note demanded money and said some food somewhere is tainted. Investigators have also sent a sample off for further testing at the Centers for Disease Control.

The Feds won't say much, other than you should still be cautious and look for any evidence of tampering in groceries purchased in the Puget Sound area.

"The questionable jar of baby food was examined at the State Health Lab. KOMO 4 News has learned the tests were inconclusive, so the sample was sent onto the Federal labs in Atlanta. We expect to know the test results on Wednesday.

[MarMema]

Also this seems interesting to me. When I googled news for Safeway a bunch of stuff about bidders came up.

like this