Senate panel considers food safety changes

A key Georgia Senate committee is scheduled to vote on what’s likely a first-in-the-nation proposal to require food manufacturers to share internal reports with investigators.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to consider a measure Monday that would require food makers to alert state inspectors within a day of the results of internal tests that show a contaminant. It also would force the companies to conduct the tests at least once a year.

• For all the latest developments on the peanut crisis and the salmonella outbreak, with an updated list of recalled items, plus background on the scare, go to the AJC's special report: ajc.com/peanuts.

Food safety experts, government groups and industry lobbies say they don’t know of any states that have such a requirement.

The proposal is a response to the outbreak linked to a Peanut Corp. of America plant in Blakely. Investigators say the company knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products after tests showed they were contaminated.