The current outbreak of salmonella poisoning in the peanut and peanut butter industry is an example of lax government oversight that will only get worse. Remember the milk crisis in China? The tainted jalapeno pepper/salsa problem last year? Bad farmed salmon from South America? Mad cow disease in American cattle?
The NY Times wrote an excellent piece on the Peter Pan peanut butter salmonella mess, which started with a family-owned processing plant in Blakely, GA. Workers weren’t paid good wages, temps were used, roofs leaked, rodent schmoo on the floor and government safety inspectors who were over-stretched. A recipe for disaster.
Sounds pretty appealing, doesn't it?
This type of thing, though not common in the least, is happening all over. As company profits dry up and workers let go, and as the government eases up supervision due to lack of funds – food safety problems will multiply.
And can’t you just see a bunch of marketers stepping up to the plate, injecting the market with "premium" foods that sport higher levels of quality control under the facade of “pure-natural,” or “healthiest choice” or others of the sort... this simply positions the lower cost items for those who simply can't afford the premiums. Whole Foods, for example, is already catering to these up-market consumers.
The government needs to step up here and pump some serious stimulus money into cleaning up
the food industry. Let’s put the search for the car czar on hold and clean up a food plant or two first. Food safety before car bail-out.
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