For some time now, I have been advocating – both in and out of court – that the FDA is broken and incapable of protecting the American people. It is under-funded, overwhelmed and ill prepared to the appropriate actions to protect the public. The recent peanut butter salmonella contamination is the most recent example in a long line of regulatory failures. Well, President Obama apparently gets it…. “At a bare minimum, we should be able to count on our government keeping our kids safe when they eat peanut butter,” said Obama. “That’s what Sasha eats for lunch,” he said, referring to his 7-year-old daughter.
This week , President Obama urged a “complete review” of the FDA after the agency failed to prevent contamination of peanut butter linked to deaths, illnesses and one of the largest U.S. food recalls. The FDA has “not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to,” and “we’re going to be doing a complete review of FDA operations,” the president said..
U.S. health officials said last week that the salmonella outbreak tied to a peanut butter maker, Peanut Corp. of America, has sickened 529 people and killed eight. The FDA said the company shipped peanut butter products after tests in 2007 and 2008 showed salmonella was present. So, the Peanut Corp. knew about the contamination when it shipped out the peanut butter products. In fact, the U.S. has begun a criminal investigation.. Over 800 peanut products have been recalled. Although supermarket peanut butter brands are not affected, Peanut Corp.’s peanut butter and paste are used by food manufacturers in products such as cookies, crackers and cereal.
There is no doubt the FDA is broken. Hopefully, the new administration, with the “yes we can” determination, can address this serious problem and also take steps to make the food industry conduct themselves in a more responsible manner.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
