For those who wonder why many Americans view our government leaders and corporate titans with increasing distaste and dwindling trust in their basic competency, I offer two words: peanut butter.
The horror story involving the Peanut Corp. of America has, in the media’s cliched terminology, revealed “loopholes” in the government’s oversight of our food supply ó as if this debacle arose simply because of a subtle technicality that was previously overlooked. As if some small but crucial flaw allowed an unscrupulous business to thwart the best efforts of vigilant watchdogs.
If only.
As more revelations emerge about the salmonella-tainted peanut products that have killed at least eight people and sickened hundreds, it should be stunningly clear that the failures here, like those in previous episodes involving toxic spinach and melamine-tainted pet food, are loopholes only if one considers the Grand Canyon a little crack in the ground.
What we know, according to information from the Food and Drug Administration, is that the Blakely, Ga., peanut-processing plant where the problem originated had found salmonella in its products at least 12 times in the past two years. By my count, that’s at least a dozen do-overs. The FDA was unaware of this, apparently, because of state and federal reporting regulations so poorly monitored and ill coordinated, the plant could have been shipping out anthrax and no one would have noticed unless a batch happened to end up in Barney Frank’s undershorts.
By now, you’ve probably read about one of these “loopholes.” Companies can retest suspect products, get a clear result, and ship them out ó with no one the wiser, apparently, until people start keeling over. Investigators say that’s what the plant did when its tests initially revealed a problem.
Here are other “loopholes” that emerged during last week’s Senate hearings on the crisis:
Food companies and state safety inspectors don’t have to report to the FDA when test results find pathogens in a processing plant. Federal investigators found four different strains of salmonella at the Blakely plant.
Companies are required to inform the FDA if they discover contamination after they’ve shipped a product, but they don’t have to notify the feds if the product is still at the plant.
Despite the government’s highly touted anti-terror data bases, there’s no official data base of food poisonings that local doctors can easily access to check whether a patient’s illness is part of a larger outbreak, which might help identify a problem earlier and get suspect items off the shelves quicker. Saving time could save lives.
In fact, the information-gathering process is so cumbersome, the FDA had to invoke bioterrorism laws just to obtain lab tests from Peanut Corp. of America.
Meanwhile, according to the agency’s own statistics, safety tests for U.S.-produced food dropped nearly 75 percent between 2003 and 2006.
Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in that jar of Jif on your shelf, does it?
The nation’s financial meltdown exposed the “loopholes” and lax enforcement relating to financial rules and regulations. That systemic breakdown has cost us dearly, in terms of financial security and trust in our institutions.
But while many of us are angry about those who gamed the system for their own benefit while regulators went comatose, we’re also bewildered by the complex world of collateralized debt obligations, carry trade and credit-default swaps. We know something has gone sickeningly awry, yet it also has an air of unreality because of the mind-boggling numbers involved and the esoteric financial legerdemain. It’s a language most of us don’t speak or understand.
We do, however, understand peanut butter. It is one of life’s basics (except for those unfortunately plagued by food allergies). We know what it looks like. We know how it smells. We know how it tastes. We have a general idea of how it’s made. Peanuts are harvested from the ground, dried, screened and cleaned. They’re shelled, roasted, ground up and eventually emerge as the rich, flavorful paste that we slather on slices of bread, bake into cookies, blend into sauces and consume in countless other ways.
Life doesn’t get much simpler than peanut butter. Peanut butter doesn’t have an adjustable interest rate or a balloon payment. It doesn’t come with pre-existing condition disclaimers or out-of-network caregivers. It doesn’t involve suitcase nuclear bombs or sabotaged water systems. It doesn’t relate to the Social Security trust fund or Medicaid shortfalls. It doesn’t concern troop deployments in Baghdad or diplomacy in the West Bank.
It’s just peanut butter, about as plain and simple a thing as you can imagine. So how can you help but wonder: If the people who are running things can’t even get this simple thing right, how on Earth are we supposed to trust them with the really complicated stuff?
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Chris Verner is editorial page editor of the Salisbury Post.