Detour bar maker files bankruptcy on peanut recall

Detour bar maker files bankruptcy on peanut recall
Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:02pm GMT Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+] * Maker of Detour energy bar files for Chap. 11 bankruptcy

* Forward Foods hurt by recall of tainted peanut products (Updates with information on salmonella outbreak and Peanut Corp bankruptcy, rewrites lead paragraph)

By Chelsea Emery

NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Forward Foods LLC, the maker of Detour energy bars, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday after a tainted peanut recall by its supplier, Peanut Corp of America, forced the company to recall many of its own products on fears of possible salmonella poisoning.

Forward Foods, which makes high-protein, snack and meal replacement bars primarily under the Detour name, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware, saying that a "significant" amount of its inventory must be condemned.

The company on Jan. 29 had voluntarily recalled all Detour bars that contained roasted peanuts from Peanut Corp.

A salmonella outbreak traced to one of Peanut Corp's plants led to one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history. The salmonella outbreak sickened 600 people, more than half of them children, and it may have killed nine people. The contamination has been traced to a Peanut Corp plant in Blakely, Georgia.

Sales of Detour products containing peanut product from Peanut Corp made up about 75 percent of Forward Foods' protein bar sales, the company said in documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The company sells its energy bars to health and fitness clubs as well as convenience and grocery stores. Continued...