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Mon Feb 09, 2009 at 16:03:29 PM PST
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What's going on in the world of peanuts? Well, funny you should ask.
- Despite previous statements to the contrary, PCA did sell food directly to retailers - specifically, to Dollar Tree Stores, Dollar General, 99 Cent Stuff, and 99 Cent Only stores.
- The recall continues to grow. One article said 1790 products have now been recalled. Amazing that anyone who buys from PCA has been sitting on the information all this time and only just announced a recall yet but apparently some companies have done that. They've got some 'splaining to do if you ask me.
- Schools in three states received possibly tainted peanuts as part of a free lunch program. Add that to FEMA giving out tainted peanuts and the military using tainted peanuts in ready to eat meals and it seems pretty clear that the government doesn't really test the food it buys for safety before distributing it. If it's a silver lining, PCA is not allowed to do business with the government for a year - maybe more.
- The peanut recall is hitting retailers hard. Peanut butter sales are down 25 percent. ConAgra and Smuckers (makes of Peter Pan and Jif, respectively) are each running ads and offering coupons, promising consumers their peanut butter is safe.
- Strangely enough peanut prices are up [PDF]. According to the USDA, peanut prices averaged 24.7 cents per pound for the week ending January 31 - up 1.1 cents from the previous week. I find it odd that in the midst of this salmonella outbreak, peanut prices are just about as high as they've ever been in the past two years.
- The AP offers a peanut butter salmonella timeline. This story has gotten so twisted at this point that I think we need a timeline. Thanks, AP!
- Obama Foodorama reports that Rahm Emmanuel is living in Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)'s basement. Why is this significant? Because she just introduced a food safety bill and he's Obama's Chief of Staff. Can Rahm help DeLauro get her bill passed?
- DeLauro's bill may be coming at the right time, as Eating Liberally says FDA stands for Failure to Do Anything.
- Georgia's state senate is reconsidering its food safety laws. Hmm, ya think???
- The FDA's investigation of the Blakely, GA peanut plant that caused this whole mess is so crazy that the FBI is helping them out. The New York Times offers an article about the FDA's findings at the peanut plant - in case you missed all the previous headlines about leaky roofs and baby mice inside bags of peanuts.
- Over at Civil Eats, a physician urges locavorism as a smart food safety move.
- Newspapers around the country are running op eds about the need for improvement in our food safety system. Here are a few:
It's wonderful to see food safety getting the attention it deserves and utterly tragic that people had to die to make that happen. |
| Jill Richardson :: Peanut Update |
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