photo: Elliott Minor/Associated Press

The current salmonella / peanut butter crisis has caused 500 illnesses and 7 deaths, with more product recalls every day (see updated list at the bottom of this post). The New York Times reports that the processing facility in Georgia was repeatedly cited for unsanitary conditions, as recently as 2007:

Inspections of the plant in Blakely, Ga., by the state agriculture department found areas of rust that could flake into food, gaps in warehouse doors large enough for rodents to get through, unmarked spray bottles and containers, and numerous violations of other practices designed to prevent food contamination. The plant, owned by Peanut Corporation of America of Lynchburg, Va., has been shut down. Read more…

Is the FDA doing enough?

Is the government, and more specifically the FDA, doing its best to protect us from poisoned food? With the resources at hand, maybe. But perhaps it’s not enough. Here’s why, based on the handling of the current PBS (peanut butter salmonella) situation:

The FDA can only recommend product recalls, not mandate them. And so, it is at the discretion of each and every manufacturer to decide if, what, and when to recall. Why do consumers need to hear each day of 10 new products being recalled, instead of having all 500 (or more) recalled immediately?

Salmonella can survive in peanut butter’s fatty environment for months. This means that people may have bought a product last month, that will be recalled tomorrow or in 5 weeks.  Worried consumers are not buying any peanut butter based products now, and this is ultimately going to hurt the food manufacturers. Had all potentially suspect products been recalled immediately, shoppers could continue to buy other products safe and sound.

Corporate responsibility

As of yesterday the FDA has singled out one Georgia factory as the source of salmonella. All companies who have received peanut butter and peanut paste from this factory in the past 6 months should immediately issue a recall on all products they have produced with the tainted peanut butter. Each of these companies surely must have records tracking which peanut butter went where, right? Right ?!

Could this tracking information be  incomplete, missing, or simply non-existent?

In the industrialized food reality of today, where a product can have 35 ingredients sourced from 20 suppliers in 12 countries, a good logistical database is a must. We certainly have the technology. Do corporations have the will?

Consumer Information

The FDA’s website is a good source of information on the current situation. However, for a crisis that is evolving literally by the hour, consumers have come to expect more frequent updates.

Hello (!), this is a post web 2.0 society – Youtube videos, twitter updates, facebook, and at a bare minimum – show us pictures of the recalled products, nobody can remember some of these products’ full names.

Here’s the Current Recall List:

46 Recalls, over 150 products as of early Saturday morning Jan 24.

• Whole Foods Market – “Carob Energee Nuggets”
• Amway Global – NUTRILITE Energy Bars
• Brent and Sam’s – Archer Farms Brand Cookies
• Brent and Sam’s – Sam’s Choice Brand Cookies
• Trader Joe’s – Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars, Nutty Chocolate Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars, Sutter’s Formula Cookies
• Parker Products – Peanut Butter Products (bulk)
• Arbonne International – Figure 8 Peanut Butter Chews
• Jimmy’s Cookies – Peanut Butter Cookies
• Perry’s Ice Cream Company – 2 more Peanut Butter Ice Cream Products
• Kroger -  Additional Select Ice Cream Product
• General Nutrition Centers – GNC Triflex Peanut Butter Soft Chews
• Chef Jay’s – Tri-O-Plex Products
• Rain Creek Baking Corp – Peanut Butter Turtles, Peanut Butter Baskets, Peanut Butter Princesses
• South Bend Chocolate Company – Extends Nationwide Recall of Candy
• Nash Finch – Bakery Products With Peanut Butter
• Aspen Hills, Inc. – Cookie Dough Products
• Best Brands Corp. – Peanut Butter Frozen Cookie Dough
• Lovin Oven, LLC – Health Valley Organic Peanut Crunch Chewy Granola Bars
• Landies Candies – Peanut Butter Filled Chocolates
• Weis Markets – Weis Quality (WQ) Cheese Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers , WQ Toasted Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers
• Blanton’s Candies – Peanut Butter Sticks
• Dinners Ready Meridian – Asian Marinated Flank Steak, Indonesian Chicken – Chicken Satay Prepared Meals
• Boca Grande Foods – POCO PAC, GRANDE GOURMET Peanut Butter Products
• Premier Nutrition – TWISTED and TITAN Branded Bars Containing Peanut Butter
• NutriSystem – Peanut Butter Granola Bar
• Ready Pac Foods – Trader Joe’s, Eating Right branded products
  
• PetSmart – Grreat Choice® Dog Biscuits
• Nature’s Path – Peanut Butter Optimum Energy Bars
• Country Maid – Classic Breaks® Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
• Evening Rise Bread Co. -  Peanut Butter Cookies and Bars
• Clif Bar -  CLIF® and LUNA® Branded Bars
• Kroger – Select Ice Cream Products
• Abbott Nutrition -  ZonePerfect® Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars, ZonePerfect® Peanut Toffee Bars, NutriPals™ Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
• Meijer – Peanut Butter Crackers, Ice Cream
• Peanut Corporation of America Expands Nationwide Recall of Peanut Butter
• Wal-Mart -  Bakery Brand Peanut Butter Cookies
• Lofthouse – Peanut Butter Cookies, Chuck’s Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies, Pastries Plus Gourmet Cookies
• Food Lion – Bake Shop Peanut Butter Cookies
• South Bend Chocolate Company – Candies Containing Peanut Butter
• McKee Foods – Little Debbie® Peanut Butter Toasty, Peanut Butter Cheese Sandwich Crackers
• Perry’s Ice Cream – Select Peanut Butter Ice Cream Products
• Hy-Vee Inc. – Bakery Products With Peanut Butter
• Peanut Corporation of America Expands Nationwide Recall of Peanut Butter
• Kellogg Company – Austin® and Keebler® Branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, Snack-Size Packs of Famous Amos® And Keebler® Soft Batch Peanut Butter Cookies
• Peanut Corporation of America – Peanut Butter (bulk packages)
• King Nut – Peanut Butter (bulk packages)

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Image via Wikipedia

[Update: Jan 23 - 8 more recall notices ]
[Update: Jan 21 - 7 more recall notices ]
[Update: Jan 20 - 4 more recalls, including pet food!]

As of late last night early late Wednesday morning night Friday morning, there were 16 20 27 35 recalls announced on the FDA website, ranging from bulk peanut butter packages, to crackers, cookies,  and ice cream. Now, even our dogs are in danger. The FDA has asked 30 companies to consider holding or recalling their products. So there may be a few more announcements today and later this week.

A full list of recalls to date is at the bottom of this post.

What you need to know:

Recalls are voluntary, which means the FDA cannot mandate a company to pull products off the shelves unless salmonella has actually been found in a sampling. (For example, Salmonella has been found in Kellogg’s Austin Quality Foods Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter.)

For many companies, the recall process is expensive and may entail logistic complications as well. Could financial considerations override the risk of a consumer getting sick? We’d like to think not, but perhaps it would be wiser if the FDA had more authority in such cases to order the recall / hold of all suspected products, pending further investigation.

What to do at the supermarket:

You’ve probably figured this one out on your own. (97.5% ore more of the products in a typical supermarket are peanut butter free.)

Current Recall List:

• Chef Jay’s – Tri-O-Plex Products
• Rain Creek Baking Corp – Peanut Butter Turtles, Peanut Butter Baskets, Peanut Butter Princesses
• South Bend Chocolate Company – Extends Nationwide Recall of Candy
• Nash Finch – Bakery Products With Peanut Butter
• Aspen Hills, Inc. – Cookie Dough Products
• Best Brands Corp. – Peanut Butter Frozen Cookie Dough
• Lovin Oven, LLC – Health Valley Organic Peanut Crunch Chewy Granola Bars
• Landies Candies – Peanut Butter Filled Chocolates
• Weis Markets – Weis Quality (WQ) Cheese Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers , WQ Toasted Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers
• Blanton’s Candies – Peanut Butter Sticks
• Dinners Ready Meridian – Asian Marinated Flank Steak, Indonesian Chicken – Chicken Satay Prepared Meals
• Boca Grande Foods – POCO PAC, GRANDE GOURMET Peanut Butter Products
• Premier Nutrition – TWISTED and TITAN Branded Bars Containing Peanut Butter
• NutriSystem – Peanut Butter Granola Bar
• Ready Pac Foods – Trader Joe’s, Eating Right branded products
  
• PetSmart – Grreat Choice® Dog Biscuits
• Nature’s Path – Peanut Butter Optimum Energy Bars
• Country Maid – Classic Breaks® Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
• Evening Rise Bread Co. -  Peanut Butter Cookies and Bars
• Clif Bar -  CLIF® and LUNA® Branded Bars
• Kroger – Select Ice Cream Products
• Abbott Nutrition -  ZonePerfect® Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars, ZonePerfect® Peanut Toffee Bars, NutriPals™ Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
• Meijer – Peanut Butter Crackers, Ice Cream
• Peanut Corporation of America Expands Nationwide Recall of Peanut Butter
• Wal-Mart -  Bakery Brand Peanut Butter Cookies
• Lofthouse – Peanut Butter Cookies, Chuck’s Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies, Pastries Plus Gourmet Cookies
• Food Lion – Bake Shop Peanut Butter Cookies
• South Bend Chocolate Company – Candies Containing Peanut Butter
• McKee Foods – Little Debbie® Peanut Butter Toasty, Peanut Butter Cheese Sandwich Crackers
• Perry’s Ice Cream – Select Peanut Butter Ice Cream Products
• Hy-Vee Inc. – Bakery Products With Peanut Butter
• Peanut Corporation of America Expands Nationwide Recall of Peanut Butter
• Kellogg Company – Austin® and Keebler® Branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, Snack-Size Packs of Famous Amos® And Keebler® Soft Batch Peanut Butter Cookies
• Peanut Corporation of America – Peanut Butter (bulk packages)
• King Nut – Peanut Butter (bulk packages)

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