I Was a Victim of the Peanut Butter Recall

Yesterday, my wife forwarded me an "Important Announcement Regarding Your Recent Purchase of Peanut Butter" that she got from Fresh Direct, the online grocery service here in New York City.

This was not a good e-mail.

As my wife will tell you, peanut butter is very important to me. She even mentioned it in our wedding vows (along with my love for the Pittsburgh Steelers). If I had to choose one thing to eat for the rest of my life, it wouldn't even be a close contest -- peanut butter would top the list.

And you know what? Compared to a lot of the other things that I love to eat, it's not even that bad for me. Unless, of course, it's packed with Salmonella.

"Dear Valued Customer," the Fresh Direct e-mail started, "We are writing because you recently purchased a product affected by a newly expanded recall announced by the Food and Drug Administration."

I really didn't like where this was going. Turns out, the tub of "Freshly Ground Peanut Butter, Honey-Roasted" that we ordered a week ago is now on the FDA's list of recalled products. The e-mail instructed us not to eat it and to throw it out immediately (and, appropriately, offered us a refund).

Unfortunately, as I alluded to earlier, I can work my way through a container of peanut butter pretty quickly -- especially when it's honey roasted. There was almost nothing left for us to throw out.

Chances are, the peanut butter was just fine, and so am I. (Thank goodness my wife doesn't crave peanut butter as much as I do -- she didn't have any.) But it's scary to get a reminder of how vulnerable we are to problems in the nation's industrial food chain. Somehow, when you buy freshly ground peanut butter from a grocery service in New York City, you aren't expecting it to be connected to a processing plant in Blakely, Ga. But that's the way it works.

I've tried in recent years, after reading books such as Fast Food Nation and Omnivore's Dilemma, to be more aware and conscious of the food that I eat and where it comes from. My wife and I try to buy organic as much as possible, and we love getting the fresh produce at the farmer's markets around New York City.

We even joined a veggie co-op two summers ago, and I came to really enjoy visiting the church basement where the veggies were delivered once a week and picking out our share (although I have to say, I got a little tired of the endless string of lettuce). NRDC has a great Eat Local web feature that helps you find what's fresh in your area season by season, and even offers recipes from chefs around the country using only fresh foods.

But when it comes to peanut butter ... well, for me, it's always in season, and I don't pay much attention to where it's coming from -- although clearly, I should.

And so should the FDA. This peanut butter recall has been yet another reminder that the FDA, like so many other government watchdog agencies, was "one of many hobbled by the Bush administration's antiregulatory efforts," as a New York Times editorial put it yesterday. The folks over at Food and Water Watch also criticize the FDA for its handling of the matter. (And of course, peanut butter isn't the only place where the FDA has been found lacking, as NRDC's effort to get the agency to ban the chemical BPA from food packaging shows.)

If you want to see how badly the nation's system of safeguards has been decimated, look no further than Deepest Cuts, a December NRDC report that evaluated the state of environmental and health monitoring programs at the end of the Bush administration in five key areas: air, water, food safety, toxic substances and human health.

The report authors found "a disturbing and pervasive pattern of program and funding cuts that make it impossible for programs to fulfill their monitoring role. ... These cutbacks will keep us in the dark about threats to our health."

I certainly can't say that I was completely in the dark when I bought my honey-roasted peanut butter last week, but I guess, like so many people, I had the impression that someone was looking out for me. For our industrialized, highly networked food system to work, someone needs to be.

In the meantime, I guess I'm just going to have to cut back on my peanut butter consumption. Somehow.

This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog.

Follow Scott Dodd on Twitter: www.twitter.com/scottdodd

Comments

[Joshua Sophy]

Read this site for the latest on this outbreak: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/01/fdas-poison-lunch-box#comment-149659

[MNmommy]

We've had to toss two disparate items, Clif Energy Bars and Kemp's Ice Cream.

Word to the wise, new items are being added daily to the list.

[Cynthia Diaz]

I’ve been following this case on NewsInferno.com. Today they had an interesting article on Obama’s take on this: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/4660#more-4660 Let’s hope the new administration gets the FDA in shape. It’s getting so that virtually no food is safe these days.

[stimpy]

Why, especially if Mr. Dodd, is such a peanut butter buff, isn't he grinding the stuff fresh himself? 10 times tastier, unoxidized, and no dumb ingredients like sugar!

[blaharumph]

thank you. i've been razzed for grinding my own... well, it's certainly worth it!

[L1]

Food now days are a very, very scary situation to me, especially here in America. I read a book a year ago called “Skinny Bitch” which turned me into a Pescetarian, which is someone who eats Vegetables and fish and may or may not choose to eat eggs. I was very concerned in the things that the people making our food put into our food or how they make it. In “ Skinny Bitch” the authors really did their research, they tell you exactly what’s not good for you and they also have definitions for bad ingredients that are put into are food. But a book cant just change peoples minds on what they want to eat. That’s why I really think that the government should really carefully watch certain companies that make all of our foods. It’s a difficult task but I really think that theirs just some things that should be stopped before it gets worse which they already have. I think there is more diseases easily spread now days thru our food as well as the air, water system etc. that is causing many of us to have cancer or very dangerous illnesses. It’s a scary thing when we have to watch what we buy and put into our mouths because of a certain corporation not carefully making the steps and practices required by the FDA.

[Idytme]

Seriously, if I were you I would not worry about buying peanut butter. Just as I did not worry about spinach in the last outbreak and that I handle raw meat without always washing my hands afterwords and I let my dogs kiss me after eating raw meaty bones. I wouldn't do this if I was run down with something, but when healthy small amounts of bacteria or viruses only make you healthier. This has been proven with tons of studies (especially kids raised on farms).
I had an uncle who if a piece of food fell on the floor or on the dirt, he'd pick it up and eat it and tell us that a little dirt never hurt anybody. The other set of the population is freaked out over the "five second" rule.
And yes, I have take microbiology and done tests on raw hamburger - and afterwords went out and ate steak tartar. I love sushi, knowing all of the risks, and having measured them in a micro bacteriology class.
Again, I do agree with food safety rules, but remember that they are protecting the weakest of our population. On his deathbed Pasture said "It is not the seed but the soil".
As much attention needs to be paid to a healthy immune system. We are told that any bug will make us sick, but in truth it is the exception rather than the rule, or we would have been extinct by now.

[gymbunnybee]

You put me off my lunch. Thanks.

[Idytme]

I'm gonna be contrarian here, but you were not a "victim" of anything. In fact, you should find it pretty cool that you purchased a peanut item and your store was able to contact you. Notice that you had no effects. I agree with health safety polices, but they only apply to about 2% of the population. The thing is that that population can shift, so that anyone who is healthy one day can be taken over by a virus, be stressed out, or something else that makes them vulnerable to bacteria the next. But, the bottom line is that in any of these outbreaks, only a minor part of the population gets sick. Can you imagine what would happen if they tracked vaccine reactions the same way, or drug reactions or any of the other well-lobbied industries in the United States? One or two percent is considered "safe".
I would submit that 99% (there goes that one percent again) of the food industry is looking after consumer interests far more than the other highly lobbied industries. Have you ever checked out the number of problems that comes with acetaminophen every year?
And food IS medicine, anyone who does not understand this has never seen a sick dog turned around to total health by getting off of kibble and onto a natural diet.

[cinemaven]

I read that peanuts from the plant affected were stopped at the Canadian border because they smelled peculiar and contained metal and when they were returned to the U.S., they were still used. That sound like criminal behavior.

[ohioan73]

Food is so scary nowadays. You never know if something is lethal until it kills someone's child or pet and it makes you wonder when your child or pet will be the next doomed food tester. Eating is like playing Russian Roulette. I'm thinking about grinding my own peanuts. But wait, where did the peanuts come from? It never ends. People are going to start needing their own personal farmland if something isn't done.

Part of the problem, I think, is factory farms. So much product goes through factory farms that its just more manufactured crap food. Not to mention the meat is usually full of hormones and bad feelings because the animal is mal treated and so on. The ground water for local residents is poisoned with enough nitrates to kill a baby because the animals and their waste are so concentrated in one small area. I protested with 800 people inside Oscar Meyer's headquarters a few years ago. I refuse to buy any meat that isn't from a family farm. There are a few butchers in my neighborhood that carry free range meat from family farms as well.