U.S. peanut firm owner refuses to testify on salmonella

By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The owner of the U.S. peanut company blamed for a salmonella outbreak refused to answer questions before Congress on Wednesday, while internal company messages showed him complaining about lost profits while the scare was investigated.

The salmonella outbreak traced to a Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely, Georgia, has sickened at least 600 people, more than half of them children, and may have killed nine people.

It has forced one of the biggest food recalls in U.S. history, scared Americans away from one of their favorite foods and brought the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under intense scrutiny.

"Lives were lost and people were sickened because they took a chance, I believe knowingly, with products that were contaminated," said Oregon Republican Rep. Greg Walden.

Peanut Corporation of America owner and president Stewart Parnell, subpoenaed to appear before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, looked straight ahead with arms folded when called to testify.

"On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your questions based on the protection afforded me under the United States Constitution," he said several times, referring to the right of Americans not to be forced to incriminate themselves.

Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, displayed internal company e-mails from Parnell. "What they show is this company cared more about its financial bottom line than about the safety of its customers," Waxman said.

One e-mail said the time required to deal with contaminated products, some of which had been shipped, was "costing us huge $$$$" while another said the employees "desperately at least need to turn the raw peanuts on our floor into money."