Peanut Bummer
Peanut Bummer Monday February 02, 2009
EVEN THOUGH he's not caught up in this mess, Mr.Peanut must want to clobber the geniuses at Peanut Corporation ofAmerica (PCA) with his cane. The Food and Drug Administration revealedlast week that the company's Blakely, Ga., facility knowingly shippedsalmonella-tainted peanut products 12 times between 2007 and 2008 tolocations in the United States and abroad. The company, based inLynchburg, Va., has urged anyone in possession of its products made inthe past two years to throw them out.
Peanut BummerMonday February 02, 2009
EVEN THOUGH he's not caught up in this mess, Mr.Peanut must want to clobber the geniuses at Peanut Corporation ofAmerica (PCA) with his cane. The Food and Drug Administration revealedlast week that the company's Blakely, Ga., facility knowingly shippedsalmonella-tainted peanut products 12 times between 2007 and 2008 tolocations in the United States and abroad. The company, based inLynchburg, Va., has urged anyone in possession of its products made inthe past two years to throw them out.
This is one of the biggest recalls in U.S. history and another exampleof vulnerability in the nation's food supply. None of PCA's peanutproducts are sold directly to consumers. But the FDA says that morethan 70 firms used the company's goods in all manner of foods, fromcookies and pet food to ice cream and cereal. Since the salmonellaoutbreak was discovered last summer, the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention believes that eight deaths and 501 illnesses spreadacross 43 states and Canada may be linked to the Georgia plant. The FDAalleges that not only did PCA knowingly ship bad merchandise but itwent to another testing facility to get a clean bill of health afterinitially getting test results that were positive for salmonella. Thecompany denies this allegation. The FDA said that the problems that ledto the contamination were not fixed.
The FDA uncovered the problems by securing inspection reports done bythe state of Georgia, using a special 2002 law meant to preventbioterrorism. The agency last inspected the Blakely plant in 2001 andthen contracted out the inspections to the Georgia Department ofAgriculture. While this practice is not uncommon for the FDA, it speaksvolumes about the lack of resources the agency has to protect thenation's food supply. According to Caroline Smith DeWaal, director offood safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the FDAhas lost more than 600 inspectors since 2004. "The fewer inspectors theFDA has, the more it relies on state inspectors," she told us.
Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) has reintroduced legislation that wouldgive the FDA more money and authority over food safety, including thepower to issue mandatory recalls of contaminated food. Rep. DianaDeGette (D-Colo.) will try again to get a bill passed that wouldrequire the FDA to devise a system that would make it possible to tracefood and produce from the farm to the dinner table. Rep. Bart Stupak(D-Mich.) has a bill that would give the FDA more money and authorityto conduct inspections. As we have learned over the past year, much ofthe food safety system in this country is based on the trust thatmanufacturers are introducing products into the food supply that areclean and safe. President Ronald Reagan had a mantra for dealing withRussia that is apt here: "Trust but verify." Congress must give the FDAand other relevant agencies the power to do it.