Peanut Butter Sales Plummet–Even the Safe Brands
Folks keep asking us here at Strollerderby whether they should avoid even the big brands of peanut butter in the face of a historic outbreak of salmonella stemming from one plant in Georgia.
Here’s the official list of brands NOT affected by the recall. Looks like Jif, Skippy, Peter Pan are all fine.
I am paranoid and don’t use peanut butter anyway, so personally, my family isn’t buying it or any products with peanuts or peanut butter in them. It seems like a safer bet to avoid it all, rather than taking the trouble to browse the FDA website for every product possible.
On the other hand, should other peanut butter manufacturers suffer because of the galling oversight of one plant? Perhaps not. But they are. Peanut butter sales across the board–not just of affected brands–are down close to 25% in the last month, since the recall was announced. Big companies are putting out ads and coupons to reassure customers that their products are safe.
In our current economy, it’s a shame that one company’s unethical behavior has hurt a whole industry, but is it any surprise that parents will exercise caution–even over-caution–when stories of death by peanut-butter are circulating everywhere?
The takeaway lesson for me in all of this is that the food industry needs better regulation. Last year’s beef recall (remember the near-miss with mad cow disease, anyone?) was blamed in part on a shortage of USDA inspectors to check up on the meat industry. Similar problems plague food production throughout the system. When there aren’t enough inspectors to keep everyone honest, it seems that everyone is put at risk of paying for one plant’s dishonesty.
Maybe some of the stimulus money in the legislation currently before Congress should create a few new jobs for food safety watchdogs.
See also:
Peanut Corporation of America Knowingly Sold Tainted Food
Trace Mercury Found in High Fructose Corn Syrup
Web Index of Recalled Peanut Butter Products
What Will Tainted Peanut Butter Really Do to Our Kids?
Peanut Butter Recall Expanded
Peanut Allergies, Peanut Schmallergies?
Amen, knitty!
Just because one peanut company’s criminal behavior has tainted many products, does not mean that ALL peanut products are involved. And it is sad that responsible companies are now experiencing a back lash. I hope that the USDA finally takes over for the FDA when relating to food products. The USDA is not perfect either but they definitely have more “wo/man power” than the FDA does when it comes to food safety. But, honestly, the responsibility SHOULD lie with the companies who are making these poison products. And they should be severely punished if they are at fault.
Thanks for your insightful article Shannon
Since we can no longer trust the food and drug regulators, (thanks Bush!!) companies will have to suffer the harsh regulation of the free market. If they collectively want protection from situation like this, maybe they ought to call off their attack dogs who have been systematically stripping the system of any and all regulation. Funny how a thing like that could backfire…