I've been following the PCA Recall of Peanut Paste etc. with great interest (and shock and horror.) The story gets worse at every turn. There are now some 500+ people who have gotten sick, at least 8 have died. And the recall will be the largest in American history.
We are looking at some 30 Million lbs of product so far.
and in the latest round up of reporting on the issue...
Products sent to our troops being recalled to the tune of 50,000 meals.
It turns out that the FDA waited on announcing the recall until the company responsible, Peanut Corp of America, cleared the wording of the announcement?!? That's right, we had to ask the criminals first before we could take care of getting the tainted product off the shelves.
You can download an excel sheet or visit the FDA site for the HUGE and growing list of recalled products. In case you haven't checked your cupboards yet, do so asap-- and remember they have pushed the date of the beginning of the recall back to products from 2 years ago till now.
In addition to the salmonella issue it appears that PCA had products rejected by Canada for containing METAL in their peanut paste.
Grandparents and children Half of the folks that got sick are under the age of 10 and all of the people who have died from the salmonella laden products are over the age of 59.
The FDA has to be better funded and better run. New news is breaking that Parnell, the CEO of Peanut Corp was actually given the job of heading the Peanut Board at the FDA. Insane.
PCA has a second plant that was never even licensed, but has been operating for decades.
The AP has video of this plant, and quotes from President Obama on the need to revamp the FDA.
As I have said before and will continue to say-- it is long past time to take a good long look at the industrial food chain and what we have come to accept as the food business. It is long past time to turn to more local and sustainable solutions. It is long past time to go back to eating food and not food products.
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