Latest food to avoid: pistachios

My my my... what's next? I'm running out of foods to avoid.

I wonder now - every time I shop - is this lettuce safe? How about the spinach... is it safe to buy it again? Should I simply avoid all non-local vegetables and shop at the local farmers market?

Is it OK to buy peanuts again? How about pet food? So corn syrup contains... mercury? Can I actually find any cough syrup that doesn't contain corn syrup?

And how much of this stuff presented to us as 'food' is being shipped in with little to no oversight from China? (Shudder.)

Thanks guys. You -- yes, I'm looking at you, FDA. We once - once - had one of the safest food distribution systems in the world.

No more.

But obviously the GOP is right... quite obviously government oversight is bad. (For corporate greed.) Good thing they got rid of nearly all of it under the eight years of the Bush Administration. I'm sure we all needed a little more lead and mercury in our diets anyway -- it will create an even larger and more bloated market for all of those big Pharma drugs, as one by one we all get sick.

Do I sound cynical? Oh I'm not the only one.

Peanut paste CEO takes the 5th

Peanut Corp. of America owner Stewart Parnell - represented by (you can't make this stuff up) one Bill O'Reilly - pleaded the 5th and refused to answer questions during a House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing concerning the nationwide salmonella outbreak. Apparently Bill O'Reilly cut his mic.

Really. He won't talk? He was pretty free with his opinions via email.

According to an AP story that appeared in Forbes:

Salmonella problems were so common at a Georgia peanut plant that the company's owner seemingly shrugged them off in e-mails.

"I go thru this about once a week. ... I will hold my breath .......... again," Peanut Corp. of America president Stewart Parnell wrote last June.

The e-mail was in response to information from an employee about a positive test for the bacteria that may have killed nine and sickened 600 people in an outbreak traced to the company's Blakely, Ga., plant.

The document was among several released by House investigators on Wednesday contradicting what little the company has said publicly about problems dating to 2006 at its plant.

Parnell's Oct. 6, 2008 e-mail to his Georgia plant manager Sammy Lightsey detailing a different positive test for salmonella in 441 cases of peanut granules, some of which had already been shipped out, concentrated on money, not safety.

"We need to discuss this ... the time lapse, besides the cost is costing us huge $$$$$ and causing obviously a huge lapse in time from the time we pick up peanuts until the time we can invoice," Parnell wrote. "We need to protect our self and the problem is that the tests absolutely give us no protection, just an indication at best."

One set of documents show Peanut Corp. issued a "certificate of analysis" last June for a sample of peanut products, assuring that the peanuts were free of salmonella. However, that batch of nuts got one positive test for salmonella from one lab and a negative finding from another.

Soon after that, Peanut Corp. stopped using the positive-testing lab for regular checks, saying they didn't like the lab's results, according to Darlene Cowart of JLA USA testing service, the Albany, Ga., lab dumped by Parnell's company.

Instead of cleaning up his business after finding salmonella, he fired the company that found the tainted peanuts.

And now he won't talk. Fine. Perhaps its time for this to go to court. I'd like to see some jail-time come out of this one.

The People of the United States vs. Stewart Parnell. I'll be waiting to see this case prosecuted legally, in front of a jury of his peanut-eating peers. This man obviously knows he is guilty as hell; and people died because of it.

Nuts to that!

Haven't been paying attention? No kidding.

“It’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing our food safety problems as coming from other countries,” said Robert Tauxe, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who helped trace the outbreak to the Blakely plant. “This outbreak is telling us we haven’t been paying enough attention.”

Ya think?

The New York Times has a written a relatively comprehensive piece on the peanut butter recall. Rather than break into another 'oversight and protection are dead in this country' rant... I'll let them handle it:

Peanut Case Shows Holes in Safety Net
By MICHAEL MOSS

BLAKELY, Ga. — Raw peanuts were stored next to the finished peanut butter. The roaster was not calibrated to kill deadly germs. Dispirited workers on minimum wage, supplied by temp agencies, donned their uniforms at home, potentially dragging contaminants into the plant, which also had rodents.

Even the roof of the Peanut Corporation of America plant here in rural southwest Georgia was an obvious risk, given that salmonella thrives in water and the facility should have been kept bone dry.

“It leaked when it rained,” said Frank Hardrick, 40, an assistant manager who, along with four other workers, described life inside the plant. “Different crews would come in to work on it, but it would still leak.”

The conditions at the plant, more circa 1955 than 2009, would have been enough to cause alarm in an industry where sanitation can be a matter of life and death, food experts said.

But they were only one element in the salmonella outbreak and subsequent food safety train wreck that started here and swept through the country — claiming eight lives, sickening an estimated 19,000 people in 43 states and spurring an array of recalls, including TV dinners, snack bars labeled organic and ready-made meals for disaster relief.

An examination of the Blakely case reveals a badly frayed food safety net. Interviews and government records show that state and federal inspectors do not require the peanut industry to inform the public — or even the government — of salmonella contamination in its plants. And industry giants like Kellogg used processed peanuts in a variety of products but relied on the factory to perform safety testing and divulge any problems.

At the same time, processed peanuts have been finding their way into more and more foods as a low-cost yet tasty additive, making tainted products harder to track.

Read more...

Rodents! Hard to imagine salmonella thriving in a leaking factory infested with rats.

Broken trust

So now I can add peanuts and peanut butter to my ever-growing list of items I no longer trust.

I was doing my daily search for updates on the salmonella outbreak, and wonder of wonders, I found this:

FDA News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
P07-32
March 1, 2007


Media Inquiries:
Michael Herndon, 301-827-6242
Consumer Inquiries:
888-INFO-FDA

FDA Update on Peanut Butter Recall

Salmonella found in the ConAgra Plant

As a follow-up to the recent Salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is conducting an extensive inspection of ConAgra's Sylvester, Georgia processing plant. Samples collected by the FDA revealed the presence of Salmonella. The fact that FDA found Salmonella in the plant environment further suggests that the contamination likely took place prior to the product reaching consumers. Last week, tests by several states identified Salmonella in many open jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter recovered from consumers. In these instances, the Salmonella found in the plant and in the open jars matched the outbreak strain recovered from consumers who became ill.

Peanut Butter Toppings Part of Recall

FDA has learned that the ConAgra plant in Sylvester, GA, sent bulk Peter Pan peanut butter to its plant in Humboldt, TN. The three brands described below are part of the original Peter Pan recall. These brands have been recalled and are no longer being sold. However, some consumers may still have these products in their home.

Consumers who have any of the products listed below should discard them. Individuals who are not sure if the purchased product contains the recalled peanut butter topping should contact the store where the product was purchased.

The bulk peanut butter was used to make the following toppings:

* Sonic Brand Ready-To-Use Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10.5 oz cans. Sonic outlets used the topping until 2/16/07, when the product was recalled.
The topping was used in the following Sonic products:
- Peanut Butter Shake
- Peanut Butter Fudge Shake
- Peanut Butter Sundae
- Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae

* Carvel Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10 oz. cans. Carvel used the topping until 2/16/07, when the product was recalled.
The topping was used in the following Carvel ice cream products:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Peanut Butter Treasure
- Peanut Butter & Jelly
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae Dasher
- Any other customized products containing the Peanut Butter Topping, including peanut butter flavored ice cream in ice cream cakes

* J. Hungerford Smith Peanut Butter Dessert Topping in 6 lb. 10 oz. cans: This topping may be used by retail and restaurant outlets throughout the United States but is not available for direct purchase by the public.

Recall Status and More Information

ConAgra informed the public that it is recalling all Peter Pan peanut butter and all Great Value peanut butter beginning with product code 2111. The company's recall extends to products made since December 2005. FDA's advice to consumers continues to be not to eat any Peter Pan peanut butter or any Great Value peanut butter beginning with the 2111 product code.

FDA will provide updates on recalled products, including any other products that may have been made with potentially contaminated peanut butter and distributed to consumers.

Symptoms of foodborne illness caused by Salmonella include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. In persons with poor underlying health or weakened immune systems, Salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections or death. Individuals who have recently eaten peanut butter-containing products from these companies and who have experienced any of these symptoms should contact their doctor or health care provider immediately and report the illnesses to their state or local health authorities. Similarly, institutional food establishments and other food service providers who have received reports of illness from consumers after they consumed a product containing this peanut butter are encouraged to share that information with their local health department.

FDA is continuing to work closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and with states and local officials to identify how the contamination occurred in order to prevent similar foodborne illness outbreaks.

####
Additional Information

Q and A - Peter Pan & Great Value Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak and Product Recall

February 23, 2007 – FDA Update on Salmonella Outbreak Linked to All Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Certain Lot Numbers of Great Value Brand Peanut Butter

February 16, 2007 – Update on Salmonella Outbreak and Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter

February 14, 2007 - FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat Certain Jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter -- Product May be Contaminated With Salmonella

CDC Salmonellosis - Outbreak Investigation, February 2007

Photos: Peter Pan and Great Value Peanut Butter

FDA's Pilot Program to Better Educate Consumers about Recalled Food Products

Whoa. That isn't 'new' news. This is from 2007!

How many times has this happened? And the FDA under George Bush did... nothing?

How very much like George Bush's EPA that refused to protect the environment.

And George Bush's FEMA that refused to respond to Katrina.

George Bush's FDA was working on behalf of the drug and food corporations to keep us all in the dark and cover up known dangers, instead of protecting us against drugs and foods that it knew were unsafe. We've seen it time and again with drugs, and an endless stream of food recalls. Do you remember food recalls during the Clinton administrations? I don't remember even one.

This whole idea that corporations will oversee and police themselves is ridiculous - against both logic and human nature, not to mention corporate nature (make as much money as you can with as little oversight as possible.) I suspect most members of the GOP know this - but its economically advantageous to believe otherwise, so they rationalize that the corporations will 'do the right thing.' Under the Bush Administration, the GOP pulled all protections for the American people and left us at the mercy of greedy food and drug suppliers. Now we have lead poisoning from China, gluten poisoning in our pet food, salmonella in our own food... and our trust is broken.

Now I buy local vegetables - from farmers that I know. I buy natural pet food that is made in the US, and I make sure to do research on the company (now I have to verify that they don't use peanuts, so even this system is subject to flaws -- I'm at the mercy of their suppliers.)

After a bird seed recall last year that forced me to dig up about 6 inches of soil in our back yard (and that may have made our dog very sick, from the pesticides that were finally deemed 'unsafe,') I will only buy seed and suet from suppliers that are American and preferably local. Or the birds go without. I figure they are better off fending for themselves than being poisoned by me.

I walked into Petco before Christmas to buy some toys for our cats and our dog, and walked back out empty-handed. Every single item in the store was made in China, had no information about materials used in construction, but some included stern warnings not to give the items to children and about dyes that would run all over our furniture.

I didn't trust them. I happen to care about my pets... and my trust is broken. So the stockings were empty this year. Many people with small children had similar issues finding toys that were safe for their children. I recall my orange cat staring at me - he's 15 years old and has seen a lot of Christmases - and in desperation I took one of his rubber balls and slipped it into his stocking pretending it was 'new.' I doubt he fell for it. Later - some time after Christmas - I made it up to him with a feather toy made in the USA.

I don't drink our water - we have a long history of PCBs in our area, dumped here in the 50s and 60s - and I seldom eat out in restaurants. And speaking of water - its impossible to find a stainless steel spray nozzle attachment for the garden hose, like the ones we took for granted when I was a child. All nozzles are now made in China, contain lead (thanks to the state of California for warning me about that - and the fact that this lead is released into the water if the water is warm, like water in a hose often is during summer months.) There isn't much point in watering tomatoes with lead-poisoned water. I have given up my search for a safe nozzle.

Is this overkill? Perhaps. But that's the funny thing about trust... once broken, it can't be restored. I know that I - that we Americans - are now on our own when it comes to the products that we buy. I know we have literally no protection now, so God only knows what is really in our food.

Senator Lugar once told me in a letter that our food was 'the safest in the world.' Well it used to be, back when we had responsible government. What a shame to destroy that hard won ideal simply out of greed.

President Obama can't fix the FDA fast enough to restore my trust. That said... I sure hope he starts soon.

Death by peanut butter

Yes, the latest poisoned food outbreak has been traced to peanuts. Yes, people are dying.

This time the poison didn't originate in China; but this is one more example of what the dismantling of government oversight (i.e. our FDA) under the Bush Administration has done for America. It has made us, our kids, and our animals sick... over and over again. Sometimes it has killed us.

And for what? So that corporations can save a few bucks by avoiding a lot of expensive (and formerly mandated) safety reviews.

Our FDA was still there under the Bush Administration, but only a shell of its former self... with Bushies in high places 'looking busy,' curtailing any 'invasive' oversight, and making corporate donors very happy.

Very nice for the corporations. Very bad for consumers.

I hope Mr. Bush doesn't like a nice PB&J when he's out clearing brush.

With nearly 500 confirmed cases of salmonella across the country -- six of which occurred in Indiana -- the Food and Drug Administration has created a Web site that lists products containing potentially contaminated peanut butter.

The site, which includes pet food, can be found at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/ and will be updated on a regular basis.

All of the products are associated with a recall of peanut butter made by the Peanut Corporation of America.

Since September, at least 491 people in 43 states have developed salmonella after eating contaminated products. The bacteria may have caused seven deaths.