An attorney representing victims of the salmonella outbreak is set to tour the Peanut Corp. of America processing plant in southwest Georgia, Thursday, linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak.

The House unanimously adopted changes to the state’s food safety guidelines in the wake of a deadly salmonella outbreak to a Georgia plant. The chamber voted to allow county health officials to report possible violations of safety rules to state and federal agencies. State Rep. Terry England, R-Auburn, said it allows the state to deputize local inspectors to get “another set of eyes” on food plants across the state.

Granola bars, cereals, cookies, nut mixes and peanut butter have long been a mainstay of food pantries because of their durability and long shelf life. Now, the food banks are throwing out thousands of pounds of food containing peanuts recalled in the salmonella outbreak.

The salmonella outbreak has made for a strange sport in the Georgia Capitol: Lawmakers are turning it into a contest of sorts over who can out-peanut each other.

A Detroit-area candy store is recalling some chocolate-covered peanuts because of salmonella fears. Gayle’s Chocolates of Royal Oak says it has no reports of illnesses. But the peanuts used in 10-ounce boxes of sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts came from Lynchburg, Va.-based Peanut Corp. of America.

The peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak has filed for bankruptcy. The Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America filed Friday for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in bankruptcy court in Lynchburg, Va. The company’s attorney, Andrew Goldstein, says the filing was “regrettable” but inevitable.

The president of the peanut company accused of knowingly distributing salmonella-tainted peanut products and the manager of the company’s plant in Blakely, Ga., refused Wednesday to answer the questions of a congressional panel. Stewart Parnell of Lynchburg, Va., the president, and Sammy Lightsey, manager of the plant where investigators believe the contaminated peanut butter originated, took the Fifth. Each invoked his constitutional right not to incriminate himself, refusing to answer the questions of the investigations panel of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Amy Dominello has more.

A sweeping new food safety measure proposed in the wake of the salmonella outbreak has passed its first key legislative hurdle.

A peanut company blamed for a salmonella outbreak discovered the dangerous bacteria at its Georgia plant as far back as 2006. Darlene Cowart of JLA testing company told a House committee on Wednesday that Peanut Corp. of America contacted her business in November 2006 to help control salmonella discovered in the plant.

Internal e-mails indicate the owner of a peanut company urged his workers to ship tainted products after receiving test results identifying salmonella.

Health officials in Texas say lab tests show there may have been salmonella at a shuttered Texas plant operated by the peanut company linked to a national outbreak.

The FBI has sealed off the Georgia peanut processing plant linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak.

A key Senate agriculture committee is scheduled to vote on a proposal to require food manufacturers to share internal reports with investigators. The panel is considering a measure Monday that would require food makers to alert state inspectors within a day of the results of internal tests that show a contaminant. It also would force the companies to conduct the tests at least once a year.

The FBI is assisting the federal investigation into the salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds and may have caused as many as eight deaths. Special Agent Gregory Jones says the FBI is “fully involved” in helping the Food and Drug Administration’s inquiry into the Peanut Corp. of America’s Blakely, Ga. plant.

A timeline of important events in the salmonella outbreak linked to tainted peanuts at a Blakely, Ga., plant.