A former employee of the Georgia peanut plant at the center of a criminal investigation in a nationwide salmonella outbreak told CBS News he saw a rat dry-roasting in a peanut area.

Jonathan Prather, one of 50 people who lost their jobs last month when the Peanut Corporation of America shut down its plant in Blakely, told Early Show national correspondent Jeff Glor the facility is dirty.

"Roaches get up there in the dry roast. Some of them blend in with the peanuts. You’d never know they’re there.” … (There were) "plenty of holes in the roof, throughout the roof. And when it rained, water just came through the whole plant."

Prather says it saddens him that many people have been impacted by the salmonella, adding he’s speaking out now because his mother always raised him to tell the truth.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler told The Early Show Tuesday,

"… The problem is we don’t have a system of preventive controls. We’re always reacting in this country. It’s always chasing the horse after it’s out of the barn. …  We have the safest food system in the world, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be safer. And each of us has responsibilities. Making sure that our food is well-cooked, good hygiene, those things are still important. … (Our food is) certainly safe, but our system is broken. And it needs to be improved, and it needs to be improved quickly."

Not sure what the basis is for the good doctor’s safest-food-in-the-world bit. Are rats in the roaster part of the equation?