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Peanuts and peanut related products are a staple of the average American's diet. It is very disturbing, therefore, to learn that on Feb. 9, the Texas Department of State Health Services ordered Peanut Corporation of America to recall all products ever shipped from its Plainview plant, according to a press release issued by the department.
The order was issued after dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers were discovered in a crawl space above a production area during an in-depth DSHS inspection.
The sickening details of the inner working of the Texas plant have led me to wonder just how safe is the food we eat?
Congress asked the same question of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the hearings they held earlier this month. The answered surprised me: it was unknown to anybody.
Laws and regulations controlling the inspection and obtaining of information from many types of food processing plants are very ineffective or non-existent, Congress concluded.
Regulators didn't even know the company's Plainview plant existed until the salmonella outbreak began, the Washington Post reported.
I don't understand how that is even possible.
The salmonella outbreak is a result of failed management within the Peanut Corp. and failed regulation practices. More needs to be done in order to prevent future outbreaks.
Laws relating to monitoring the food supply should be enacted, and sufficient funding needs to be provided to agencies to enable them to provide meaningful monitoring.
One proposal is the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). This bill would create a strong Food Safety Administration, led by a presidentially-appointed administrator.
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the administration would require frequent, rigorous inspections of food processing facilities here and abroad, provide mandatory recall authority and tough enforcement penalties when corporate negligence causes food safety hazards.
Over 600 people have become ill and nine have died as a result of the salmonella outbreak.
A food safety administration is a step in the right direction, but until such a group can be created you should be wary of anything you eat that contains peanut-related products. In fact, you should just avoid peanut products completely.
As of Feb. 19 there are nearly 2,400 products that have been recalled related to peanuts distributed by the Peanut Corporation of America, according to the FDA.
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