Sunland awaits FDA response

Sunland Inc. spokeswoman Katalin Coburn said it could be a matter of days before they receive a response from the Food and Drug Administration on the next steps to take in reopening their peanut butter plant.

The plant was linked to a salmonella outbreak that halted the plant's operations in September. The salmonella was found in peanut butter Sunland made for Trader Joe's, causing the company to issue a voluntary recall of hundreds of products.

"We have sent our response to the FDA and now we're waiting for a response back from them," Coburn said. "They are pretty good in giving a timely response so we are expecting them to return our call in a couple of days."

In late September, the plant was given a top-to-bottom scrubbing and Coburn said that portion of getting the plant back on its feet has been complete.

"The plant has been completely taken apart and put back together," she said.

Forty-one illnesses in 20 states have been linked to the peanut butter, including a 5-year-old girl in Roosevelt County. The shutdown comes amid a bumper harvest of eastern New Mexico's prized Valencia peanuts.

Coburn says the peanut harvest is drawing to a close soon and will be stored until the processing plant reopens.

"The process plant is set to open first and the peanut butter plant is set to open much later," Coburn said.

She added that the closure of those plants have not caused any layoffs.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.