Georgia Senate Panel Considers Changes to Food Safety Rules

State lawmakers are considering new food safety rules in Georgia, where a peanut plant has been linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people nationwide.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is to consider a bill Monday that would require food makers to alert state inspectors within a day if internal tests show a contaminant in a plant.

Those tests would be in addition to unannounced state and federal inspections.

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

Food safety experts, government groups and industry lobbies say they don’t know of any states with similar requirements.