Food recalls: What's a consumer to do?

The Washington Post asks "As food recalls continue to sprout, what's a consumer to do?"

From Jennifer Huget:

 

The moment when I almost threw up my hands came in 2001, when I reported on salmonella- and E. coli-tainted bean sprouts. Everyone had been thinking of bean sprouts as health food until they started sickening people. It turns out that even thorough washing of bean sprouts doesn't help, as the salmonella bacteria are often embedded in the seeds themselves. There's no way to know your bean-sprout seeds or the sprouts that sprout from them are infected. And while cooking vegetables can kill most pathogens, when's the last time you've cooked a peanut or pistachio?

So what's a concerned consumer to do?

Unfortunately, Acheson says, not much. "Obviously, when you buy a product that's in a bag, like peanuts or pistachios, you take it on good faith that the company has done due diligence," Acheson says. "With something like raw chicken, you know you have to cook it thoroughly. But there is nothing a consumer can do about a product that's in a package."

 

Pistachio growers announce new Web site to inform consumers, retailers of safe labels

 

As part of ongoing collaboration with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pistachio growers and processors today announced a new Web site - www.pistachiorecall.org - that lists specific pistachio products and brands that are confirmed safe to consume. The Web site is produced by CAL-PURE, a co-op of California pistachio growers ("CAL-PURE"), and the Western Pistachio Association ("WPA") and is accessible directly and via a link on the FDA Web site at www.fda.gov/pistachios. The new site is being made available in light of a pistachio recall by the processor, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. and Setton International, due to potential Salmonella contamination. The recall action has been taken on a precautionary basis, and the FDA reports no illnesses tied to the recalled pistachios

 

Pistachio recall signals tough new stance on food safety NYT

 As the nation's second-largest processor of pistachios agreed Monday to recall its entire 2008 crop despite no confirmed illnesses, the Obama administration issued a tough warning to all food makers that sloppy manufacturing practices would no longer be tolerated.With the warning, the administration signaled that it was substantially changing the way the government oversees food safety. Food-handling practices that in the past would have resulted in mild warnings may now lead to wide-ranging and expensive recalls, even before anyone becomes ill from contaminated food.

 

Ontario tobacco farmers to receive millions under transition program The Canadian Press

 The almost total surrender of their tobacco-growing quotas under a federal program to help Ontario farmers leave the business speaks to their financial despair, a marketing board official said Monday.New figures show the province's roughly 1,000 tobacco farm families have surrendered 99.7 per cent of the outstanding quota in exchange for about $284 million from Ottawa."The uptake speaks to the reality of where we're sitting," Linda Vandendriessche, chairwoman of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, said in an interview."Most farmers are in financial despair and had little choice but to apply to the program."

 

Outrage of the day: global warming legislation  Amy Ridenour

Last Tuesday, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) unveiled proposed legislation that, if adopted, would kill (at best) hundreds of thousands, more likely, millions of jobs and put a substantial and highly-regressive global warming tax on every American even as Congressional leaders wring their hands and bemoan the state of our economy.

 

 

Judge upholds workder verification rule turntoten.com

Rhode Island judge has upheld a key element of Gov. Don Carcieri's executive order on immigration last year.Superior Court Judge Mark Pfeiffer ruled Friday that Carcieri had the authority to require certain state agencies, contractors and vendors to use the federal E-Verify database, a system that lets employers make sure new hires are legally allowed to work in the United States