Last year was the summer of the great tomato and hot pepper scare. Now, as spring arrives in 2009, salmonella has been found lurking inside roasted pistachios. Pistachio products coming out of California may be tainted with salmonella, and the FDA has issued a warning for consumers to avoid eating pistachios, or foods containing them, until further notice.
First, I have to be careful eating my salsa, and now I have to worry about my favorite nut in the world, pistachios (who'd of thunk pistachios were my favorite?). Last year more than a thousand people in 43 states got sick from the salmonella outbreak that blamed tomatoes, jalepeno and serrano peppers, and fresh cilantro (all ingredients of some of my favorite dishes) as the culprits. During the scare our government, you know, the one that wants to use their wisdom in the banking and auto industry, was competely clueless regarding the origin of the contamination, or how to stop it. The Food and Drug Administration, that government agency responsible for safe food, is so intellectually challenged that they are actually unable to protect the American consumer from contaminated foods. It amazes me that the same government that claims to be able to save the banking industry, determine the best direction our auto industry should take, and claims to be able to erradicate poverty by redistributing wealth, can't encourage the food industry to create salmonella-proof food, nor figure out where the contamination came from once it happens.
How long it will take health officials to figure out exactly which pistachio products may be tainted with salmonella is the million dollar question. And while the government seems not to be able to make pre-emptive moves to protect us when it comes to food, it seems now their strategy has shifted to waiting until contaminated foods surface one-by-one, thereby risking that more people fall ill before making an attempt to figure out what the problem truly is.
Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Incorporated, the second-largest pistachio processor in the nation, has recalled more than 2 million pounds of its roasted pistachios in response to the sudden outbreak of salmonella. One possible cause of the tainting of pistachios is the possibility the nuts brushed against tainted raw nuts while being processed at the company's facility. The roasted nuts should not be contaminated because roasting kills the bacteria, but if the product comes in contact with tainted raw nuts during processing, it may have tainted the roasted pistachios now being fingered as being part of the cause of the problem.
California supplies 99.99 percent of the U.S. pistachio market, according to the California Pistachio Board. Pistachios are also a product of Iran and China.
The cause, as mysterious as it can be, may need to be traced back further than the powers that be are willing to look. After all, unlike other foods that have been victims of salmonella outbreaks, pistacios are not grown at ground level.
So the operant question is, "How did salmonella organisms get on raw pistacios?"
Bird turds on a few nuts could have contributed. Handling them with unwashed hands may have been a factor. Rodents in the orchard, or in the distribution warehousing, may be a more likely vector. Even floodwaters or leaky roof-tops, especially if pigeons are present on the roof, could be a source. Salmonella contaminated rinse tanks in a packing house could also be a vector.
In the case of last years scare, the unclean hands of illegal aliens picking the food rose as a possibility.
The basic problem is that the culprit is linked to poor food prep and packaging skills. Poor food handling, then, links back to people, and specifically, people not taking proper precautions, or people being employed that obviously are not willing to take the proper precautions.
Increased regulations by government agencies will be the quick-fix response by some folks out there. I do not necessarily disagree with regulations, but I do disagree with overregulation, or regulating businesses to the point that they are unable to freely conduct business in a profitable manner.
Perhaps regulations on who to hire (such as enforcing the "legal residents" laws), or increasing surprise inspections by agency personnel, will assist in making our food safer.
Individuals need to be more responsible. From the growers to the packagers, all precautions need to be made. We can blame government failure or corporate failure, but in the end, the problem lies with individual failure - and the resolution lies with ensuring that these individuals understand that they must live up to their responsibilities of being clean, and safe. Such a message is best driven home by the consumer, and their spending habits. When the sales of pistachios drop through the floor, the industry will, out of necessity, fix the problem.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Fox News - Company: Mixing of Raw Nuts May Be Cause of Salmonella Scare
Associated Press - Pistachio Warning Could Signal Food Safety Shift
Fox News - FDA Warns: Avoid Pistachios Amid Salmonella Scare
Business World Online - BFAD bans pistachio-based US products
No comments:
Post a Comment