Last December, Sunland Inc. entered into a court-ordered agreement imposing requirements that must be complied with if the company is to operate. This consent decree follows the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) suspension of Sunland’s food facility registration in November 2012. The suspension came as a result of evidence linking Sunland to an outbreak of Salmonella Bredeney that sickened 42 people in 20 states, as well as the company’s history of violations. The company was barred from distributing food in intrastate or interstate commerce while its registration was suspended.

The consent decree may be seen by some as a final step in the process, but at the FDA we see it as a beginning. Certainly, it is a new beginning for Sunland, which must correct the problems identified during recent FDA inspections before being allowed to market its nut butter products. More broadly, though, it is the beginning of a new chapter in FDA history.

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