Peanut Recalls and Plant Closings
Peanut Products: What's Safe These Days?
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With announcements of peanut plant closings and the steady rise of peanut-related salmonella outbreaks and even deaths, you may have thrown out your jar of peanut butter without reading where the peanuts came from. But did you think to check the label of your breakfast bar, cereal, ice cream or cookie mix? Recent estimates indicate that this recall -- one of the largest in history -- has spread across 43 states, leaving more than 500 people sick, eight dead and causing nearly 2,000 products to be pulled from shelves, vending machines and hopefully out of the recipes from restaurant menus. AOL Health called on Elizabeth Andress, PhD Food Science, Professor of Foods and Nutrition and Extension Food Safety Specialist at the University of Georgia to answer all our questions about keeping safe without suffering from total peanut withdrawal.
Food Recalls and Your Health
AOL Health: How should consumers react to peanut plant closings and investigations?
Andress: Pay close attention to the news and keep up with the Food and Drug Administration's news and advice. In this particular instance, the manufacturers are also maintaining customer service recall hotlines. Even if you find that you don't have something currently on the recall list, your first choice is don't eat it if you don't know or are worried it may become recalled in the future -- your second choice is call the manufacturer for more information. In this case, many major brands not included in the recall have issued disclaimer notices on their Web sites saying they did not use peanuts from contaminated plants.
AOL Health: Should peanut butter be the only thing consumers worry about? Should other peanut-based foods be given scrutiny?
Andress: Major brands of jarred peanut butter are not actually affected by this particular recall. This company [Peanut Corporation of America] put out bulk that manufacturers used as an ingredient in ice creams, cookies, granola mixes, pet food and more.
AOL Health: What should you know before eating out?
Andress: At the restaurant ask servers which dishes contain peanuts or peanut products. Obviously there is a little bit of a gap as to how well informed they are. You can always ask to check with the chef. Or, don't order the item if they can't definitively say whether it contains peanuts. Not every dish will be obvious -- some Thai dishes may have peanut butter or peanut granules in them and you might not know that up front. Restaurants are pretty well attuned to peanuts because they are an allergen.
AOL Health: Can companies' Web sites with information about peanut recall and safety information be trusted?
Andress: If it's the manufacturer's Web site and they are making a definitive statement, 'No, we have not bought products from these [contaminated] plants,' you should trust this information. They would not risk saying this in such a public way.
AOL Health: Where is the best, most reliable and updated source of product recall lists?
Andress: The FDA's Web site is updated regularly for product recalls and the Center for Disease Control's salmonella outbreak page has updates on reported cases.
AOL Health: What are some of the reasons the peanut industry has had to close plants and issue so many recalls?
Andress: It comes down to resource issues. There is a limited number of people to do these inspections. The FDA has received a lot of criticism for failure to respond quickly. But what hasn't been talked about is the fact that the FDA has been given a whole lot of responsibility with no real increase in funding. There needs to be more funding for food safety in this country.
If you have a major food company that can afford to do their own inspections, they probably have a leg up on other companies. There is not that same corporate oversight for smaller companies.
What we have in many parts of the country are aging food plants. In ConAgra's recent Peter Pan peanut butter recall one discovery was leaks in the building. In a recent canned food recall, again one issue that surfaced was aging facility problems... while they may not be the sole cause of contaminated food, it points out that older facilities not kept up regularly can be hard to then clean up to meet our current facility standards.
NEXT: Could the FDA Have Prevented These Salmonella-Related Deaths?
