Do you like this story?
Another round of “Food in Jeopardy”: The answer is “10″
By Gina Spadafori
February 5, 2009
The question:
“What is the number is FDA peanut-related recall notices dropped between midnight and 3 a.m. ET?”
NPR reported this morning that more than a thousand products have now been recalled, making this the nation’s biggest recall ever.
Very rarely mentioned, if at all: The fact that all this peanut product came from a single place — just as in the Menu Foods disaster — underlines a dangerous threat posed by our centralized food system. Public health …. national security … this has to be fixed.
The 2007 pet-food recall was never “just about pets.” It was a warning that is still going largely unheeded.
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Senate Agriculture Committee is holding a hearing on Peanut Butter Recall right now…been on about an hour on CSPAN.
Comment by Barb — February 5, 2009 @ 10:10 am
And yet the government (due, no doubt to pressure from big ag money) keeps passing laws and regulations that make it increasingly difficult for small ag-related businesses to stay afloat.
Is this about better health — or is it about campaign dollars and increased centralization? After all, big government puts more power into those greedy hands. So they can repay the favors with, well, favorable legislation. So they can get more campaign dollars. To allow them to be given more nifty freebies from from industry (limos anyone?). And take cushy industry jobs when they retire /aren’t re-elected / get impeached.
Comment by SmartDogs — February 5, 2009 @ 10:13 am
The committee hearing is just another round of the official showing of concern.
The peanut people should go to jail — and maybe they will — but that won’t change a damn thing. Peanut Corp of America, Menu Foods — all symptoms of a bigger problem that’s no being at all addressed.
Meanwhile, as noted by SmartDogs, decentralized regional agriculture and small family operations are being hounded into extinction at the time we need them most.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — February 5, 2009 @ 10:39 am
Just watched about 40 minutes of the hearings. Same old themes are returning. (Just finished reading “Pet Food Politics” so it’s all fresh in my mind.) Why aren’t agencies sharing information? Why doesn’t the FDA have more authority? Why does it take so long to get the information to the public? What happened to inspections? Why don’t these agencies have the resources to do what they need to do? 2007 and 2009 look exactly the same. I have taken peanut butter off the menu at our house. I’m sorry, I don’t want to risk that the FDA is wrong and it is in jarred peanut butter also. I’m enough of a pessimist to expect that news next.
Comment by C.L.H. — February 5, 2009 @ 10:50 am
As usual, the best recall updates are available on PetConnection.
We just took Gina’s advice from the get-go and cut out all peanut butter items from the beginning of the recalls. Thanks for the heads up, Gina - once again, your predictions came true. Unfortunately…
There have been three articles in our local newspaper (we’re in a city of 600-700 thousand, but we’re still an agricultural city) about the movement towards locatarianism (those who eat only local foods, regardless of their food preferences - vegan, vegetarian, omnivores, etc). Our local farms and greenhouses are not only prospering but springing up everywhere - unfortunately demand has increased sale price as it has taken over supply… but I imagine this will correct itself somewhat by next summer.
It’s unfortunate that it’s taken a SECOND international food scare of terrifying proportions to bring people back to what they should have known from the beginning. That locally grown, small farm/organic sustainable resources are safer and far more ecologically sound.
Anyways, now to go one step further and clear out any older peanut butter-containing products from our cabinets - just in case.
Remember the days when food outbreaks happened in restaurants?
Comment by Kim — February 5, 2009 @ 10:54 am
Well … I can’t say we’re on this one like the pet-food recall, because it’s only marginally pet-related.
But I wish people would wake up to what has happened here. I wasn’t paying attention before the pet-food recall, so I guess I can’t blame people for doing the same now.
But just throwing out peanut-butter-flavored “snax” ain’t fixing the problem. Gah! That’s sooooo frustrating.
And so, I plant my garden, eat my home-laid eggs and wait for the world to catch up.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — February 5, 2009 @ 11:09 am
I checked the recall dates off the Atkins site (see previous Jeopardy post) and my boxes have expiration dates before the recall.
Think I’m going to eat them? Nope - remember how the dates kept getting pushed back during the GPFF (that’s Great Pet Food Fiasco)? My health is worth more than $10.
No here’s a little something to chew on. I wonder if some folks who think they have IBS or something similar are just getting a little poisoned now and then by peannut butter products (or other contaminated food).
Comment by 2CatMom — February 5, 2009 @ 11:09 am
“a little poisoned now and then”
That’s horrifying.
But, unfortunately, makes sense.
Comment by Lori — February 5, 2009 @ 11:16 am
I was never big on processed food. I grew up in a no sugar, no fat, whole grains and home grown vegetables sort of house. But after the pet food recalls, I started getting the regular FDA emails and really paying attention. I doubled my garden space last year, and I’m going to do it again this year. I’m sorry to say that I’ve just about given up on our elected officials today. (My mistake, I watched the Madoff hearings last night, the pork filled stimulus package speeches today, and then the peanut butter hearings.) I just don’t think writing my elected officials does a darn bit of good. Revolution anyone? I can’t see any other way to fix the problem.
Comment by C.L.H. — February 5, 2009 @ 11:21 am
I am glad that the term lab shopping has come out in public and not just in the pet blogs! Due to laws still in effect from 1938 (or so) the FDA does not have to be notified about positive tests…so maybe more than us “hysterical pet owners” will be writing their congress people…and sending whitehouse.gov their concerns…maybe..and I am still waiting for the prez to talk to Dr Nestle….he really needs to talk to her!
Comment by Carol V — February 5, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
Hey, I’m at 9 FDA recalls into my Inbox in just under 2 minutes — and the night is yet young!
This is becoming a freaking sport!
Comment by Dorene — February 5, 2009 @ 6:25 pm
AP today: “Peanut product recall tops list of bad foods”
“Depending on how recalls are measured, few others come close. If counted by the number of products, more than 1,313 have been recalled as of Thursday. The closest is the 1,177 pet food products recalled in 2007 after melamine was discovered in some ingredients.”
“The current salmonella outbreak has been blamed for eight deaths and 575 illnesses. A June 2008 salmonella contamination of tomatoes and jalapeno peppers made more people ill — more than 1,200.”
THOUSANDS of cats and dogs died in 2007. And it can easily happen again today - to thousands of PEOPLE.
Just think. The shameful $18 billion bonuses paid to Wall Street bankers could have fixed our broken food safety system at the FDA/CDC. IMO tax audits should be performed on every one of those corrupt and greedy unconscionable subhumans. The bailout money would have been better spent on protecting our food.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....QD965MKTO3
Comment by Nadine L. — February 5, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
I learned this last night on the news..(I’ll try to find a link) …but it was Minnesota’s dept of Ag that discovered this strain of salmonella and figured out it was the peanut butter and it was the same group that discovered the “tomato” scandal of 2008 was really not tomatoes but jalapeno relish…it was NOT the FDA or CDC….I think we have a good group of people that should pack up their things and get on a plane and head east!
Comment by Carol V — February 6, 2009 @ 4:25 am
I’m on the FDA email alert list and my box is full of new ones every day; I counted 48 of ‘em since yesterday. As for me, I just don’t read them anymore; it’s easier and feels safer to just avoid everything with peanut butter in it at all. That’s not a huge deal for me because I just don’t eat or feed my family much processed food anyway.
At least with the Peanut Butter we don’t have a lot of moms and dads out there fretting about how to fix their kid’s lunch using “real food” - or pediatricians out there warning parents their kid’s hair might fall out or might become sick with abnormal bone growth if they dare to put away the packaged goods in favor of a home cooked meal.
ugh.
Comment by Joy — February 6, 2009 @ 6:19 am
Please be careful. It isn’t just peanut butter. Roasted peanuts, peanut paste, peanut oil, etc. are on the list. Products without peanuts are processed on the same line that products with peanuts are processed on. Cross-contamination is rampant. It could be in your loaf of bread or box of cereal. One of my co-workers is recovering from Salmonella. The Health Department cultured it out of a box of plain donuts (no peanut product listed as an ingredient). Naturally, everyone involved has heard from the company’s legal counsel with the threat of lawsuits if they mention the name. I’m not going to scorn him for eating a donut. Very simply, all food should be safe.
Comment by Roberto — February 6, 2009 @ 7:19 am