F.D.A. Critical of Peanut Butter Plant
The plant in Georgia that produced the tainted peanut butter tied to a deadly, nationwide salmonella outbreak had reason to believe that some batches of its products were contaminated with strains of the bacteria but shipped them anyway, federal officials said.
The company that owns the plant, the Peanut Corporation of America, based in Lynchburg, Va., had found on at least 12 occasions in 2007 and 2008 that samples of its peanut butter and peanut paste contained salmonella, the Food and Drug Administration said. But rather than destroy the tainted batches and take other remedial action, the agency said, the company in some instances sought out additional tests from private laboratories. When those additional tests came back negative, the company shipped out the products to manufacturers across the country, the agency said.
Agency officials said that the company should have cleaned its facilities after its discoveries, and called its decision to ship the contaminated products a violation of good manufacturing practices. The agency is expected to post the findings of its investigation on its Web site on Wednesday.
If this is the standards for the peanut industry then how do we know all peanut butter isn’t bad? Just because they haven’t been caught yet? 43 states are reporting salmonella in peanut products. If we boycot all peanut butter we will force the peanut butter industry to beg for regulation and testing. Any industry that ignores the health and safety of the consumer deserves punishment.
So first we fuck the tomato farmers, and now the peanut growers?
Criminal prosecutions and/or massive Federal fines might help if the Government cared about its fiduciary duties.
And what exactly was sent to the confirming laboratories? Was that Dr. Beeker or some other muppet? Prosecute them too.
2,
Agreed. Jail all those greedy bastards (and not in the nice place).
This assumes that the entire industry is like the operators / management of this plant. I assure you that this is highly unlikely. Having worked in the seafood industry – all but one of which were smaller manufacturers – I can tell you that some need regulations forced on them while others do whatever they can to comply. While some regulations are ridiculous, like ones proposed against all Listeria (an endemic biologic in the environment), not just Listeria monocytogenes or cholera, for instance, asking them to prevent this bug family from ever showing up in a plant is silly. Yes, you need specific tests.
That aside, this plant obviously ignored their own findings. Even though they took some prudent steps, logically, I’d be willing to bet they weren’t following their HACCP plan. If they were, they have a legal leg to stand on as these tests can produce false negatives. However, they are also responsible for the people they farm tests out to also. At the very least, their HACCP plan, if they have one, will undergo a change. At the worst, they violated their plan, GMP, and will have the book thrown at them – a huge fine and possibly the closure of the plant. That’s a lot of jobs in a time of economic stress. And the management is clearly to blame if they didn’t do due diligence.
Note: the FDA has a history (pre-Shrub admin) of saying things are much worse than they actually are and trying to throw the book at you for comparatively minor offenses without regards to extenuating circumstances. THEN after making like a 500 lb. gorilla is going to sit on you, they try to negotiate. They use to try to help food companies first then police afterwords, not police first then let those able survive. The NMFS is another example of an agency set originally to help that has totally become a policing agency. All stick and no carrot isn’t a good way for anyone to work.
So, I’d take some of what the FDA says with a grain or five of salt until more evidence comes out, if we ever do hear the whole story. Personally, I think the company was likely negligent but it wouldn’t surprise me if they did what their FDA approved HACCP plan called for either, assuming they have one. The entire food industry SHOULD have a HACCP plan. I don’t know if that’s required for everyone though.
HACCP – Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point
Look it up. Pioneered by Pillsbury and used extensively by Japanese in many areas and only in the last 15 or so has it come into widespread use in many U.S. industries.
Peanut butter is fine, if you make it at home. No salt peanuts and real peanut oil!
I agree Sparky, or find a grocery that has the little machine that grinds the dry roasted nuts. Yummmmmm. Better than anything in a commercial jar any day.
I wonder if this is another case where the cost of destroying/cleaning is considered more than the cost of a few lawsuits later?
#4, gm,
While some regulations are ridiculous, like ones proposed against all Listeria (an endemic biologic in the environment), not just Listeria monocytogenes or cholera, for instance, asking them to prevent this bug family from ever showing up in a plant is silly.
Bullshit!!! If the food plant can not contain listeria or any other pathogen they should not be in business. It is only silly if you can not remove all pathogens AND it isn’t your mother with the failing kidneys.
They use to try to help food companies first then police afterwords, not police first then let those able survive.
Food is what people put inside their bodies. If a food manufacturing plant is incapable of producing healthy food in a sanitary facility they shouldn’t be there. If any food processing plant fails a health inspection, they should not have their hand held. Shut ’em down and recall all the contaminated product.
That is too tough? Well every day thousands of manufacturers produce healthy food products in clean facilities. Don’t use the excuse “well listeria is a tough bug” when it is MY EFFEN HEALTH.
If you are so worried about your health, why are you eating mass produced food to begin with?
Hello. My name is Improbus Montoya. Your peanut butter killed my father! Prepare to die!
Seriously, the era of lax regulation should be over. Stick it to them Congress.
#9, SL,
I hope you aren’t trying to suggest you never eat processed food.
While do prefer fresh, too often foods can not be obtained without buying processed. Yes you can bake your own bread, I just made some yesterday, but the yeast, flour, sugar, oil, and salt were purchased and processed in their own way.
The last time an industry cried out for regulation, we got the Pure Food and Drug Act, with all the damage it has caused over the past century or so.
Better would be ongoing testing and certification by a well respected testing firm. Publish the most recent results on your label.
Of course, folks won’t pay the additional 2 cents for your products when they can buy a dodgy one from your competitor. Or, considering the “organic foods” nonsense, maybe they will…
Is there any food that is inorganic? I mean, no carbon?
#12, Dave,
The last time an industry cried out for regulation, we got the Pure Food and Drug Act,
Not true. The Pure Food and Drug Act was a direct result of several exposes about the meat packing plants in Chicago. The filth and accompanying illnesses and death in society caused such a backlash that Congress couldn’t pass the bill fast enough.
Better would be ongoing testing and certification by a well respected testing firm. Publish the most recent results on your label.
Self regulation? Isn’t that what the Republicans wanted for the banks and mortgage industry? Hey, how is that one working out?
Is there any food that is inorganic? I mean, no carbon?
If you don’t know by now it must mean you are a right wing nut. Have you ever heard of TAP WATER. I sear, I couldn’t live without it. Fresh, cool, delicious!
water is considered to be food now?
Commercially produced peanut butter is not recommended for consumption by many nutritionists but, one in particular mentions that PB products can contain A LOT of ground up FUNGI..which can grow like mad in the proper incubator called THE HUMAN BODY.
The micotoxins produced by fungi are a prime cause of on-going “mystery” ailments and allergy symptoms that plague millions of us. Add vinegar, in whatever form like tablets, to your diet as it destroys fungi and you’ll start feeling healthier than you can imagine.
If it proves to be true that the people running the company sold what they knew to be a contaminated product they they should be charged with murder and premeditated murder at that.
Self regulation? Well we’ve seen how well that works in both the stock market and the banking industy. Remember that the people who lied to Congress about the health effects of tobacco products are also the nations largest food supplier, RJR.
Would you want to eat anywhere where there were no public health inspections? Maybe there just shouldn’t be any over site…. No FAA, let Boing build what ever they want, no USDA, no FDA or no DOT and when something happens you can, as a small individual, try to bring your case to court against a well paid battery of lawyers.
Sea Lawyer, yes bottled water must meet certain health standards, you know like purity, free from heavy metals, need I go on…
# 16 smittyjs said, on January 28th, 2009 at 11:46 am If it proves to be true that the people running the company sold what they knew to be a contaminated product they they should be charged with murder and premeditated murder at that.
Isn’t that what they do in China?
Who knew that China had better food regulations and penalties than us.
uh i’ve had a jar of skippy for a while now. The labeled said bottled in NJ. I haven’t been sick yet.
The problem is that the FDA can’t even begin to do its job if it wanted too. They don’t have the resources.
Now all the people with peanut allergies are pointing their fingers at us and laughing, “Ha ha! Now you know what it’s like to not be able to enjoy the smooth, creamy, nutty delicacy of peanut butter.”
Hey Fusion,
I happen to love good tap water. Always have. Even the fluoridated kind. And, I agree, no carbon, but it isn’t exactly food. And I am far, far from a right wing nutjob.
I also recommend that you read up on the food and drug act. The media frenzy over the schlocky meatpacking and bogus patent medicine sellers prompted the “good guys” of those industries to clamor for regulation in order to protect THEIR interest.
And, while I’m at it, anyone who thinks that the banking industry was either not regulated or self regulating is just plain delusional. Banking is one of the most heavily regulated businesses in the United States. The regulators simply were not doing their jobs, particularly in the area of risk assesment. When you guarantee deposits, it is your responsibility to make sure they are backed by sound assets.
Finally, who said anything about self regulation? I recommended independent testing by reputable firms. Every hear of Underwriter’s Laboratories? That’s the idea. But if you prefer, the LAPD crime lab could use some work…
So it’s just jelly time now?
you know I’ve heard this a few times over the past week but I only remember after I ate some pb cookies or a pb and j sandwich
#22, Dave,
I also recommend that you read up on the food and drug act. The media frenzy over the schlocky meatpacking and bogus patent medicine sellers prompted the “good guys” of those industries to clamor for regulation in order to protect THEIR interest.
There was no industry clamoring for regulation.
Of course, if you have some references that contradict this, please port them.
And, while I’m at it, anyone who thinks that the banking industry was either not regulated or self regulating is just plain delusional. Banking is one of the most heavily regulated businesses in the United States.
It was. Then Phil Gramm had his Republican buddies do away with much of the regulation. Bush did away with the oversight. Also, private banks and investment banks are (were?) not regulated during Bushes Administration. They are the ones that created the “toxic” paper they sold to other banks.
#25, “It was. Then Phil Gramm had his Republican buddies do away with much of the regulation. Bush did away with the oversight. Also, private banks and investment banks are (were?) not regulated during Bushes Administration. They are the ones that created the “toxic” paper they sold to other banks.”
State banks are regulated by the state in which they are chartered. If they take on FDIC insurance, then that organization has something to do with the matter. Likewise, if they are members of the Federal Reserve System, then the Fed can also be counted as a regulator. State banks are not required to be involved with either of the two, and it was only in recent decades that state banks are even required to hold their reserves at the Fed, member or not.
Federally chartered banks are required to be members of these institutions and are subject to the regulation, but state banks are not federal banks and there are many more of the former than there are of the latter, and there is still a decent percentage that are not federally regulated.
To the topic of regulation, a good share of the regulation that has existed in the banking industry existed for no other reason than to stymie competition between local banks (branching prohibitions), competition between banks across state lines or as an act of the federal government to squeeze out the state banks all together in favor of federally chartered ones. We’ve had plenty of these gems over the years, like the one that prohibits interest payments on checking accounts, that had been imposed on the industry for no valid reason where consumer protection goes. And people act surprised when the industries devise ways to get around them.
#26, SL,
All 50 States require State Chartered banks to be insured by the FDIC. So all banks are regulated by the FDIC.
Federally Chartered Banks are regulated by the OCC.
For no interest on checking accounts, I have no knowledge of that rule.
For a short look at Phil Gramm, part of the reason the Republicans and McCain lost in November. And a big reason why America is in a depression.
#27, It is illegal to pay interest on checking accounts for member banks of the Federal Reserve. What people call checking accounts are actually Negotiable Order of Withdrawal accounts and were devised as a way around the rule. None of this is important in effect, except that is serves as an easy example of regulations designed solely for the purpose of deterring competition.
Christmas before last I bought 4 small jars of Peter Pan here in Spain (where peanutbutters hard to find) – I have a tradition of making peanutbutter cookies at christmas time. Made a couple hundred cookies, that were delish as always. Until, I saw an article and checked a list, and it turns out the jars I bought were all on a recall list. Thank God no one got hurt, maybe those jars weren’t infected, maybe my oven disinfected them. I happend across the article quite by accident, no effort was made to announce a recall here. I tried contacting them and got the royal runaround. I guess it wasn’t intentional, if you’re gonna eat indutrially processed foods your gonna take your chances. Still, why bother with having an FDA if it has no legal muscle, or isn’t willing to use it.
#28, SL,
Federally Chartered banks belong to the Federal Reserve. State Chartered banks come under the FDIC. I have a plainly marked checking account that does pay interest in a State Chartered bank.
I don’t disagree with you that there might be some regulation about paying interest on checking accounts. What I don’t see is the reason for it or who it would apply to. Of course your whole point is the “reason” or lack of.
Mr. Fusion,
Listeria, which the regulation I was referring to in it original form would have prevented you from having in your plant, is endemic. It is a whole variety of bugs. YOU CAN’T GET RID OF IT! Most listeria don’t do a single harmful thing to you. But a few do. Because it’s endemic you very likely have it on you right now on your clothes or skin. But only a few types of listeria are actually harmful. The regulation should have originally been written to cover only those types of listeria.
Say, you’re working with crab meat. You are charged with eliminating listeria entirely from your plant. Well, when the testers come by and walk into the plant, even if they walk through a mat filled with quat, they’ll have it on them and contaminate the environment. So, when they tested, they find listeria and you’re out of business. Did they find monocytogenes? No. Did they find cholera? No. Did they find any bug that will actually harm you? No. Was your facility clean? Yes. Did you fail the health inspection? FDA: yes. Scientist with knowledge: no. But you’re out of business because of a poorly written regulation.
So, please try to understand basic science before you yell B*llsh*t at me, blowhard. People like you are part of the reason media now goes for yellow journalism and sensationalism instead of reporting facts. You let the wool get pulled over your eyes then don’t investigate or use your brain. Shame on you.
I used this example to point out that the FDA now polices on incomplete evidence and scientific knowledge. Not all the time but some of the time. You see, what’s driving it sometimes is politics and the need to make an example of someone/a company rather than facts and evidence. This probably IS NOT the case with the peanut butter company. And besides, I’m no big business promoter, just the reverse. But intelligent standards should be made, NOT scientifically impossible to reach standards. And food is a very biologically active product. The best stuff is never made in a sterile environment only relatively sterile. It’s like canning things. Some things need to be fairly sterile while other things better not be or you end up with junk. Don’t eat that live culture yogurt ’cause you’ll get a bacteria in you! YIKES! Or that sausage, or that beer or that vinegar.
And you owe me an apology.