Peanut Butter? Everyone's Allergic

A little less than a month ago, the Peanut Corporation of America issued a recall on 21 lots of peanut butter and peanut paste processed at their Blakely, GA plant due to a Salmonella outbreak that effected more than 600 people, and left 9 dead. Three days later, they expanded that recall to cover all peanut products processed at that plant. If that was the end of it, the story would have been sensational. But the story doesn't end there. Earlier today, the Peanut Corporation of America suffered further setback by being forced to issue a recall for all products shipped from their Plainview, Texas plant. This time, the Texas Department of Health discovered dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in the plant. Throughout all this, the executives at Peanut Corp. have refused to answer questions, even going so far as to plead the fifth at a congressional hearing.

This whole situation speaks volumes about the testing and reporting procedures issued by both state and federal food safety organizations. Under state laws in Georgia, Peanut Corp. was not required to report positive tests for salmonella or other contamination issues to state agencies. That same statue allowed the contamination to go unreported at the federal level as well. What is our government doing if they aren't protecting us? It should be obvious to require companies to report contamination, but it doesn't seem to be that important to regulators. The steps and groundwork are there to provide the system of accountability, but our government is about protecting the corporations, and not the people.

My solution to all this is simple. As one, this country should put it's foot down and say, "No! We will NOT buy your products. As of right now, we all have an allergy to peanut butter. And we are also allergic to any other products that don't report their testing procedures and results. We won't stand for this!" If we all did that as one, situations like this salmonella outbreak, and companies like Peanut Corp. would not be allowed to continue. There would be accountability, and there would be oversight. And, there would be a lot fewer deaths.

Dead rodents, excrement in peanut butter plant lead to recall

(CNN) -- The Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday ordered the recall of all products ever shipped from the Peanut Corporation of America's plant in Plainview, Texas, after discovering dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in the plant.

Authorities issued a recall for all peanut products shipped from a plant in Plainview, Texas.

The order, which applies to products shipped since the plant opened nearly four years ago, came a day after the discovery of filth in a crawl space above a production area during a health services inspection, the department said in a news release.

Inspectors also reported that the plant's ventilation system was pulling debris "from the infested crawl space into production areas of the plant resulting in the adulteration of exposed food products," the release said.

Officials at the plant, which opened in March 2005, voluntarily stopped operations Monday night.

Under the order, they are not allowed to resume operations without health services approval.

The company's peanut butter and peanut paste products produced at its plant in Blakely, Georgia, have been linked to a nationwide outbreak of salmonella poisoning that has affected 600 people, killing nine.

A call to the company's telephone number, which was working earlier this week, elicited a recording that said it was no longer in service.

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