The Peanut Corporation of America’s Salmonella outbreak and mass recalls of peanut and peanut butter products continue to shock us….from mice in peanut bags to scurrying roaches and the nasty facts behind the “serious” sanitation problems. According to interviews with former employees, leaky roofs, filled rat traps and insect infestation was just another part of the daily grind at Peanut Corporation of America. Apparently, these frightening conditions peacefully coexisted with the plant’s manufacturing process and, as expected, eventually caused the fallout we are now seeing.
In the interviews, one worker said that he “never” allowed his kids to eat the peanut butter. Too bad the hundreds of children who were served this product in school cafeterias did not have the same choice.
This peanut company knowingly operated under unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Peanut Corporation of America is linked to several deaths and hundreds of salmonella poisoning victims. And where were the FDA and other governmental agencies? This presents yet another stark example of the same regulatory failure we’ve seen from main street to wall street… and everywhere in between. These agencies have that were supposed to be the consumer watchdog, evolved into lapdogs… and eventually guard dogs for industry. Hopefully, Obama’s can do attitude will revive the watchdog and create an environment where the industry will think twice before conducting itself in the reckless manner we’ve repeatedly seen.
The latest revelation comes on the heals of two PCA production plant inspections that took place this week.
Among the “disturbing” discoveries at the Plainview, Texas, and Blakely, Georgia, production facilities: mice, cockroaches, other insects including a live beetle among the peanut product, filthy machinery, and roof leaks. A piece of wire was found among the peanuts, and a screwdriver had been left inside peanut storage equipment.
Common sense tells us that these conditions in a food production facility are not conducive to food safety and cleanliness. In fact, these are conditions that practically beg for the spread of pathogens that lead to contamination and food poisoning. What was PCA thinking, and why weren’t measures taken to turn this situation around before it led to widespread food borne illness? Answers may surface in time, but they may not be ones we want to hear.
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