FOOD SAFETY: IT'S NOT PEANUTS!

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ANOTHER POISONING-FOR-PROFIT CASE

WILL THE FDA EVER PROSECUTE THESE SICK, GREEDY BASTARDS?

YOUTUBE: NBC "The Today Show"
"Feb 2, Matt Lauer interview with President Barack Obama"
FDA critique at 7minutes 35seconds in on the video.


Obama Promises To Fix America's Food Safety Net (Before It Kills Us All)

Terrorism? Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington DC. Every year an unknown number of people worldwide die from consuming tainted food. Millions are sickened by toxins in foods every year without even realizing the cause, doctors say.

The attacks on the World Trade Center were deliberate political acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists to force changes in US policy, or so Bush told us. The attacks on our food supply every day are deliberate economic acts perpetrated by incompetent and greedy American and "friendly" foreign nations' business people, strictly for cold hard cash.

The 9/11 attacks missed their mark: If anything, American foreign and domestic policy toward Muslims and Arabs became even worse, from almost any point of view. The attacks on our supplies of food supply are an ongoing and smashing success, earning trillions of dollars for the worldwide food industry each year, every year.

9/11 was the only known successful major attack on the "homeland" by the alleged perpetrators, Al Qaida. The attacks by persons and corporations unknown and very well known goes on day after day in the United States. We may have succeeded in stopping Osama Bin Laden in America, but we have done absolutely nothing to protect our food here. And that is truly terrifying.

The peanut butter you feed your kids may be poisoned. We don't really know. We thought the tomatoes we eat were making us sick last summer, but we didn't have any idea where they were coming from, or how to stop the poison from reaching our dinner tables. Then we were told it was peppers from Mexico, not tomatoes from the US. But a lot of people got sick, and some even died, before the problem was fixed. Whatever it was...

Well, there's a bigger problem. Despite the fact that our move to ensure food safety was greatly advanced by Republican Teddy Roosevelt over a hundred years ago, Republicans and Lite-Republicans have been dismantling our food safety system for the last forty years. They believe in de-regulation of everything, just so businesses can make bigger profits without making better products. That's their rationale for everything. That's why they hate unions and the minimum wage, work safety and pollution standards, keeping jobs in America and demanding fair trade instead of "free" trade: They only care about money, not people. They don't give a good God damn about America, though they wrap themselves in the flag at every opportunity. They are the worst sort of whores, and they have been running our country since Nixon took over in 1968. That's why we voted for change, at long last, in 2008.

This is change we desperately need to believe in. Even some of the big food processing companies themselves are calling for more regulation. The severe lack of consumer confidence in America today starts in the grocery store. When every aisle presents you and your family with potential dangers, who can be confident? Who can spend more money buying more stuff, knowing that, instead of enjoying nourishing ourselves and our families, we fear poisoning them? Hello? Think we have a crisis here?

The bottom line is, of course, people gotta eat. But we don't gotta eat sh*t: Literally; the peanut butter has sh*t in it. Is it any wonder that we are losing confidence in far-away corporations and their well-wrapped packages of unknown content? This may help the local food businesses, so, in the long run, some good may come of this. But if government and industry want our trust and confidence back, they'd better completely reverse this deregulation of our food safety system, and start acting like they give a sh*t about us, and not on us. Otherwise, it's going to be a very long recession.


"Previous Posts On Food Safety"
All about the attack of the killer tomatoes.


WASHINGTON POST
"Officials Still Seek Source of Salmonella Outbreak"
Four months in, still no answers.

' The source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened almost 400 Americans in 42 states remains unknown, U.S. health officials said Friday, adding that more cases are expected. The strain of salmonella has been identified as Salmonella Typhimurium, the most common of the more than 2,500 types of salmonella bacteria in the United States. It's often found in uncooked eggs and meats, said officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who have been investigating the outbreak for several weeks. "Cases are continuing to occur, and it is an ongoing investigation," said Dr. Rajal Mody, a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. "The first people began getting ill in September, but it usually takes several weeks before enough cases have been reported to start noticing a possible outbreak." '

REUTERS
"Salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter"
OK, maybe it's peanut butter.

' Minnesota health officials issued a product alert for peanut butter on Friday after finding a jar that was contaminated with a strain of salmonella linked to an outbreak across the United States. While the bacteria in the peanut butter match the outbreak strain genetically, the health officials said it was not clear yet that the peanut butter could be linked to any cases. The outbreak of salmonella food poisoning has sickened at least 399 people and put 70 or more into hospital since September. '

WASHINGTON POST
"Peanut Butter Recalled as Salmonella Search Continues"
No worries, peanut butter's only poisoning hospitals.

' An Ohio peanut butter distributor issued a voluntary recall Saturday for two brands of peanut butter after health officials in Minnesota on Friday said they had found salmonella bacteria in a tub of peanut butter that is distributed to schools and hospitals. The recall, and the Minnesota report, could be the breakthrough in the search for the source of a salmonella outbreak that has struck in 42 states so far. '

YAHOO NEWS
"Officials link salmonella to deaths in Va., Minn."
The old, the young, the sick, the weak. You know, the people the Right would like to recycle, anyway.

' Three deaths associated with a national salmonella outbreak occurred in Virginia and Minnesota, health officials confirmed Tuesday. Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out specific containers of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak in 43 states and possibly to the deaths of three people. '

YAHOO NEWS
"Test: Some peanut butter at Ga. plant contaminated"
I told you to stay away from those Georgia crackers.

' Some peanut butter at a Georgia plant shows signs of contamination, but officials said Thursday they don't know if it's linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds and prompted Kellogg to pull crackers from store shelves. Samples of the microbes found at the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Blakely will be tested for salmonella, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said. If it proves to be the food-borne bacteria, further tests would determine whether it is the same strain that has sickened more than 450 people in 43 states and may have contributed to five deaths. "We do not have a positive confirmation for salmonella," Irvin said in a statement. "However, results of two tests completed so far mean that we cannot eliminate salmonella as a possibility." '

ABC NEWS
"Recall: Kellogg Takes Peanut Butter Snacks off Shelves"
Would you trust Kelloggs? You'll have to, if you're eating their foods.

' Kellogg Co said on Wednesday it was removing its Austin and Keebler branded peanut butter snacks from store shelves and put a hold their shipments due to the current Salmonella food poisoning outbreak. But the company said its own investigation has not indicated any concerns over its products, nor has Kellogg received any consumer illness complaints. '

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT
"Peanut Butter Product Recalls Mount"
Ten days further on, and the poison is still spreading.

' The drum roll for recalls of peanut butter products continued without letup Monday, as more companies pulled back everything from cookies to candies on store shelves. The actions followed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning Saturday that consumers should avoid peanut butter products containing peanut butter or peanut butter paste while the salmonella outbreak probe continued. The U.S. health warning is focused on products made with peanut butter, like crackers, not jars of peanut butter on store shelves, the agency said. "We are urging people not to eat products that have peanut butter until we have better information, and they can make an informed choice," Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said at a Saturday teleconference, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. '

YAHOO NEWS
"FDA: 125-plus products recalled in peanut outbreak"
Goin' to the dawgs.

' More than 125 products have been recalled in a salmonella-and-peanuts investigation that keeps getting bigger, federal health officials said Wednesday. The list ranges from goodies like cookies and ice cream to energy bars. Even food for pooches may not be entirely safe, with a national company recalling some of its dog treats. On Tuesday, PetSmart recalled seven kinds of its Grreat Choice dog biscuits. On Wednesday, the weight loss company NutriSystem was among the latest caught up in the investigation, issuing a recall for peanut butter granola bars. Last week, Kellogg recalled some of its Austin and Keebler brand peanut butter crackers. Salmonella was confirmed in a package of Austin crackers. To help consumers, the Food and Drug Administration has set up on its Web site a searchable database of recalled peanut products. "We expect (the) number to continue to increase," said Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's food safety program. No major brands of peanut butter sold in jars are implicated. '

USA TODAY
"Officials call for criminal probe into salmonella recall"
Oh, so it was deliberate. How could that happen? [EASY] What are we going to do about it? [NOTHING]

' Senior congressional and state officials called Wednesday for a federal probe of possible criminal violations at a Georgia peanut processing plant linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak. The government Tuesday accused the peanut butter manufacturer Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) of shipping products in 2007 and 2008 after internal tests found bacterial contamination, violating food safety regulations. The company's actions "can only be described as reprehensible and criminal," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who oversees Food and Drug Administration funding. "Not only did this company knowingly sell tainted products, it shopped for a laboratory that would provide the acceptable results they were seeking. This behavior represents the worst of our current food safety regulatory system." '

YAHOO NEWS
"Food makers don't report in-house test results"
Poisoners are on the honor system?

' A federal probe into a deadly salmonella outbreak has exposed a dirty secret: Food producers in most states are not required to alert health regulators if internal tests show possible contamination at their plants. The legal loophole surfaced this week when federal investigators disclosed internal Peanut Corp. of America reports that documented at least 12 positive tests for salmonella between 2007 and 2008 at their Blakely, Ga., plant, which has been identified as the source of the nationwide outbreak. In each case, the plant did not alert state or federal regulators. The flaw has infuriated regulators and food safety experts, who are pushing legislation that would require the alerts at the first sign of contamination. They say stricter requirements could have stemmed an outbreak, which may have started months ago and has sickened at least 500 people and may have led to eight deaths. '

WASHINGTON POST
"FDA Investigating Peanut Company Behind Recall"
Feds "investigating." Like the "investigated" the 9/11 bombers and let 9/11 happen anyway? Now we're REALLY in trouble!

' The federal government has begun a criminal investigation of the peanut company responsible for an outbreak of salmonella illness that has sickened hundreds of people, killed at least eight and prompted one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history. The Food and Drug Administration is working with the Justice Department to explore possible criminal charges against the Peanut Corporation of America of Lynchburg, Va., which shipped contaminated products made in its plant in Blakely, Ga., officials said yesterday. "There is a criminal investigation that has been initiated through our office of criminal investigation at the FDA. They have to work through the Department of Justice to develop a case and prosecute, if that's what it comes to," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "It's an open investigation." '

YAHOO NEWS
"Feds rarely file charges in tainted food cases"
After all, who cares? Poisoning hardly ever happens, so we don't need a deterrent, right?

' As federal officials launch a criminal investigation into a Georgia peanut processor at the center of a deadly salmonella outbreak, food safety experts say they hope it's a signal that the government plans to be more aggressive in prosecuting other cases in the future. Food safety watchdogs and legal experts say criminal charges have only been brought against a handful of companies involved in high-profile outbreaks though federal law allows cases to be prosecuted without proof the company knew it was distributing contaminated food. They say the law is not used often because there has been little will to pursue criminal charges in all but the most noteworthy and outrageous cases, and that has put the public at risk. "Part of that system is the ability to penalize the people that fail," said Michael Taylor, a food safety scientist at George Washington University. "And there's been a real failure to do so at the federal and state level." Food safety advocates hope that is starting to change. '

NY NEWSDAY
"Latest peanut scare may be linked to previous outbreak"
Hunh. I guess it does happen often. Hey, maybe we do need a deterrent. HANG 'EM HIGH!!!

' Authorities are investigating the possibility that the current nationwide salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 530 people may be linked to an outbreak that infected more than 700 people two years ago. A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms the source of the current Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak - responsible for one of the largest product recalls in U.S. history - is the Peanut Corporation of America's Blakely, Ga., processing plant. While eight deaths have been linked to the outbreak, with 529 confirmed cases in the U.S. and one in Canada, the report notes the real number sickened could range in to many thousands. That's because, according to the CDC, only an estimated 3 percent of salmonella infections ever reach the stage of being laboratory-confirmed and reported to its surveillance systems. '

US FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION
"Peanut Butter and other Peanut Containing Products Recall List"
NOW they tell us: ATTENTION: You Have Just Been Poisoned. How about PREVENTING this sh*t???

' Information current as of 12 PM February 3, 2009. 1085 products in list. Peanut Containing Product Recall (Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak): Main Page. Do's and Don'ts During the Peanut Salmonella Outbreak: FDAs Dr. Stephen Sundlof. Note: This list includes human and pet food subject to recall in the United States since January 2009 related to peanut products recalled by Peanut Corporation of America. This list will be updated as new information is received. The information is current as of the date indicated. Once included, all human and pet food recalls will remain listed. If we learn that any information is not accurate, we will revise the list as soon as possible. When available, this database also includes photos of recalled human and pet food products that have been voluntarily submitted by recalling firms to the FDA to assist the public in identifying those products that are subject to recall. '

US CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
"Clinical Features/Signs and Symptoms"
Apparently, eating sh*t makes you sh*t. Kinda of a natural laxative. And a breath freshner.

' Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12–72 hours after infection. Infection is usually diagnosed by culture of a stool sample. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days. Although most people recover without treatment, severe infections may occur. Infants, elderly persons, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness. When severe infection occurs, Salmonella may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. '

US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
"Salmonella Questions and Answers"
I'm sick of your sh*t. Literally, peanut-heads!

' Q. What is Salmonella? A. Salmonella is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacilli that can cause diarrheal illness in humans. They are microscopic living creatures that pass from the feces of people or animals to other people or other animals. '

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE
"Obama: FDA too slow tracking tainted food; wants review of agency and salmonella outbreak"
Saved by The Kids In The White House.

' President Obama had critical words for the Food and Drug Administration yesterday in the midst of a massive recall of peanut products linked to a nationwide outbreak of salmonella illness that has killed eight people and sickened another 550. "I think the FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to catch them, so we're going to be doing a complete review of FDA operations," Obama told Matt Lauer during an interview broadcast on NBC's "Today" show. "At a bare minimum, we should be able to count on our government keeping our kids safe when they eat peanut butter," the president said. "That's what Sasha eats for lunch," Obama said, referring to his 7-year-old daughter. "Probably three times a week. I don't want to worry about whether she's going to get sick as a consequence of eating her lunch." '

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