This old but still unfolding story just makes one involuntarily shake their head.

By now we’ve all heard and or read about this.  Perhaps some of you have had to return some food product and hopefully didn’t become ill from eating anything peanut related.  So why keep talking about it?  Apparently the discovery of tainted peanut products has not yet stopped judging by the regular updates to the FDA product recall announcement page.  The current count is 3223 and still climbing.

Has anyone not heard about the unsanitary conditions at the Georgia plant?  Or how the management of The Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) has been dodging shutting down their plants over the past couple of years by sending products to be tested to lab after lab until one wouldn’t find Salmonella?  After that it was announced there would be some sort of investigation with the possibility of criminal charges filed.  Then a few weeks later we learned of the utterly disgusting conditions at the Texas plant.  Old news right?

Did you also know that on “…February 12, 2009, the Texas Department of State Health Services ordered PCA to cease the manufacture and distribution of all food products from its Plainview, Texas plant and to immediately recall all products manufactured there since March 2005.”  Since 2005?!!  This is quoted from a press release from PCA.  Interestingly, according to this same PCA press release, on the very next day, February 13, 2009 in the state of Virginia, PCA filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. bankruptcy court and because of this they are no longer able to handle the recall.  I wonder why that’s not in the news?  [While you're visiting the FDA product recall page mentioned above click on the link for the PCA press release and read it for yourself.]

Here in the U.S. we can’t simply walk these clowns to the gallows for what appears to be certain criminal negligence in handling a part of our food supply without a proper investigation and trial.  However, what I’d like to know is what group of legislators thought it was a great idea to craft the bankruptcy laws in such a manner as to allow these morons to be able to walk away from all responsibility of dealing with the mess they knowingly created?  If PCA is truly under investigation for criminal negligence how is it they could file for and receive any protection under bankruptcy?  Why haven’t they had all of their assets frozen until the investigation was over?  At this point if they are found guilty it would seem bankruptcy protection may allow them to avoid paying for the clean up costs.  Is this really the way it is?  Have we reached the point where those who break the law are offered more protection from those laws by virtue of other laws, than the victims of their crime?  And if our food supply has no real protection what’s left?  So many questions.

Perhaps congress in their infinite wisdom should contemplate increasing the FDA’s workforce so that we may have adequate inspections of these processing facilities, as opposed to funding a study of Japanese beetle sex habits or some other such crap that wastes our tax dollars.  And no, I’m not watching a tennis match.