Salmonella may as well be referred to as "the bad witch of the south," she's in your kids lunchbox and maybe even their brains.
Imagine if you will -- you're an honest Joe or Jane. You've worked on an assembly line where you just got word that a salmonella outbreak spawned one of the largest ever peanut product recalls while finding roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitary problems.
What would you do? Leave your job and look for another employer? Or would you side with the FDA inspectors -- claim it's gone and go back to work?
In this economy, I guess earning your daily bread is worth more than what you spread on it -- even if it can harm.
Peanut Butter might be a staple in your kitchen cupboard but studies may reveal there could be a link to Autism. Here is one mother's painful discovery.
Question
"My son's daycare teachers have approached me about having my 3 year old son
tested for autism. Here is some of his background (mostly according to his
teachers... some we have I experienced our self):Does not socialize with other children. EVERYDAY that I pick him up he is alone. Just sitting down or playing by himself. The teachers say he his like this all day long.
He has a breakdown when other children touch him. He lets us cuddle him often
and very often WANTS to be cuddled.While at school when the class transitions to another activity such as lunch,
nap, outside or inside play he breaks down.He is BIG on routine. Do anything once and he has the need to do it EVERYDAY
from there on out. And if you don't...you guessed it. BREAKDOWN.HE has eaten ONLY peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the last month or two.
Before that we had a round with pizza for months. Before that french fries.
This seems to be a trend with him. His teachers say he does not eat well at
school.Swinging is one thing that brings him pure joy. I have always said from a very
young age he will swing from dawn to dusk if you would let him.His speech is delayed. He has been in speech therapy and there is progress but
VERY slow progress.He crawled and walked at a later age that most of his peers.
He is 3 in November and is not potty trained and shows no signs of being ready
anytime soon.We definitely have issues with him being upset for no apparent reason. He can
go from happy to sad to a all out wreck in a matter of minutes. When we ask him
what's wrong he can't really tell us. On the other hand he will tell me "Me happy" or "me sad" and it fits with his current mood.I am concerned. I am going have him tested but do you think that his teachers
are justified in their concerns? They think he is Autistic."
My heart sank when I read that mother's testimonial. And it sank even further when I read,
Michael Rogers, a senior FDA investigator, said it's possible for salmonella to hide in small pockets of a large batch of peanut butter. That means the same batch can yield both positive and negative results, he said. The products should have been discarded after they first tested positive.
A leading food safety expert agreed.
"Here's a company that knew it had salmonella in a product and still released it," said Michael Doyle, head of the food safety center at the University of Georgia. "What they tried to do is get around it by having it tested elsewhere. But that doesn't count. The first time counts. They were selling adulterated products."
Separately, senior congressional and state officials on Wednesday called for a federal probe of possible criminal violations at the plant.
The company's actions "can only be described as reprehensible and criminal," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who oversees FDA funding. "This behavior represents the worst of our current food safety regulatory system."
Okay, when the Chinese government revealed that factory workers were aware of the consequences and potential health threats (illness and death) from Melamine found in infant formula they reported a Chinese Court sentenced three men to die for adulterating milk for profit and poisoning.
Why doesn't our government take responsibility for unjust negligence, lies and misdemeanors?
And death?
How much is a tainted peanut butter and jelly sandwich worth in this country? Big bucks!
Isn't it sad... really sad... that peanut butter use to be American as apple pie.