The Peanut Company's personal who knowingly shipped their contaminated products to the food chain should be prosecuted to the fullist extent of the law.
Mary A. Hellmannof IL11:26AM February 06, 2009
we all know we should watch we eat and it coul dbe in any tyes of food. mostly wee we at least expect it. so we all know now to watch what we break down in our system because you never know what it leads too. stop having a favorite because your favorite can be the one that kills you.
kekeof GA1:33PM February 04, 2009
Have we seriously lost our collective ability to empathize, or feel even the least emotion for someone other than ourselves? I hope not... but I'm concerned Bill may be a symptom of a much large problem, a relatively recent change in the way our society.
Bill, your comments are shocking and disappointing, to say the least.
When it is within your power to do good or prevent bad, but you choose doing neither, that makes you worthless at best...
Peanut Corp had plenty of warning and opportunities to, as someone else mentioned, close, clean and restart. Yes, they would have lost a day's revenues... But those possibilities should have been factored into their quarterly earning forecasts anyway. That type of business practice should be something which no Board or executive could punish or even think of sidestepping.
When you process food, your #1 job is to protect the public health where any risk is known, not expose people to risk without their prior consent, or do anything that they (management) would not want to be subjected to themselves. Period.
Like I said before... If Peanut Corp knew their families and loved ones couldn't hide behind the legal "Corp" protections they've built for themselves, and could actually be forcibly compelled to eat their own products at any time... you can be sure we wouldn't have 8 people to bury today... Or, as Bill might comment .. "Just" 8 people. Lucky for you Bill, it wasn't someone you loved...
Thomasof CA7:07PM February 02, 2009
To Bill of CA -
The outrage is focused on the fact that the company KNOWINGLY shipped TANITED product out to market to be sold and ingested. Shipped to the homes of thousand who eat peanut products EVERY DAY. The consumers of this product include CHILDREN. Gee, maybe you are right, why be outraged when a company knowingly puts lives at risk for a few extra bucks? Lets just forget all these people ever died from someone else's callusness and move on. Not. This company should be punished to the fullest extent. What punishment would you demand if someone decided to murder eight people? Would you let them walk away? Why bother with outrage, after all, it is only eight people. Yeah, not a likely reaction. How old are you seriously?
Arielof NJ5:20PM February 02, 2009
In that the FDA found evidence of salmonella at the Georgia plant, but officials said earlier that it was a different strain from that of the outbreak. close attention need to be paid to the other likely products, based on the survey from the patients. And it will add up for the health agency to put in place the stringent hygiene standard for the nursing homes while the frail elderly have fallen a victim to this infection consistently.
hsr0601of NY6:27PM February 01, 2009
The issue is reminiscent of the Ford Pinto case from the 70's, one of the first white collar crimes ever prosecuted. Ford was found not guilty, but I doubt the verdict would be the same today, as we expect more from corporations. Many people died from Ford's auto design, one which their engineers knew was flawed.
Food safety is no different. We may assume the risk if it is made in China, it might not be safe, but with the USA label, we all assume, it is safe. These executives should be held liable for the deaths they have caused, as well as tarnishing the reputation of American workers. Let's give them their right to trial by jury.
Jim Whiteof ID10:02PM January 31, 2009
When did Peanut Corp - or apparently most other American corporations and companies involved in the processing of food - forget that people actually eat their products? Whenever there's an issue of tainted food, I literally panic for a few seconds, while I try to remember or find out whether my children might be effected... MY CHILDREN. Someone mentioned how China will execute two people for essentially the crime of putting profit concerns above any other consideration, including the risks to human health and life. But when an American company does the same, what's the response? I hear "maybe" some state will "consider" legal action, and we all know that would amount to a small fine if anything. No executions. No jail time. No change in regulations or oversight. Nothing.
So here's my idea - which should help anyone involved in food production (or anything related to product safety, which would harm living breathing people with families and love ones) -- Peanut Corp obviously doesn't care if my children might die from eating their products... If laws and regulatory agencies can't change that, then let's make the issue more direct for them. Whenever any company send poisened or tainted food to market, Federal Marshals should be sent to the homes of every member of that company's Board of Directors and Executive Management team, and take them - and their children and other relatives living there - ALL in to custody. And then everyone will sit down to a nice meal of that product. If that group includes the cute little grandchildren of the CEO, then so be it. Sound harsh? You bet it is... But why are the lives of MY children any less important, or deserve any less concern or consideration, than those of the CEO? Maybe if those company's executives and boards knew they might be compelled to eat their own products one day, you can bet they'd make damn sure to clean up their acts, and would NEVER be cited by ANY agency trusted with our health and welfare. Period.
Funny thin about Peanut Corp. They've removed all the pages from their website that might be used to identify their management team or provide some means of contacting them. But here's a cached version of a message from their President, where he says (or said back in 2004) "Safety and Quality do make a difference...".
Good... Then let's sit down with YOUR kids, and enjoy a meal of PB&J sandwiches and cookies baked fresh yesterday. What do you think about that?
I think there should be some harsh penalties. But crying, passionately railing about 'children's lives' (old people are more susceptible to infections) and calling for the killing of the manufacterer seems to me, to border on histrionics.
To be fair, how many of us have failed to wash our hands for the requisite ten to twenty full seconds after handling chicken? Sneezing into our hands? Maybe we aren't endangering millions if we don't, but I REALLY doubt that they sent the peanut butter out 'knowing' it was contaminated, rather than an ever-present 'possibility'. Who the heck would want to risk bankruptcy from lawsuits and public scrutiny if they honestly thought it was a risk?
I could be judging the company too benignly, I admit -- I would need to read further about it to be sure, but I just want to point out that there are ALWAYS risks of contamination of some sort, and it's just a matter of deciding how high the risk is. Sadly, it IS all about the bottom line, but when we, as consumers, refuse to pay higher prices to companies who will stop production for days to repeatedly clean equipment 'just in case', do we become culpable, too? How many of us have just reached for the cheapest jar on the shelf?
I'm terribly sad for the people who died, and am irritated that I have to throw out so many things I bought (I love peanut butter.) But I want to keep some perspective. If....IF....it was absolutely known and deliberate, IMHO, it should be negligent homicide charges for the company owners, who likely pushed the supervisors to keep production high at all costs (if they wanted to keep their jobs, anyway.) If it wasn't deliberate (as I suspect), it's criminal negligence and involuntary manslaughter at very least.
Just my two cents.
Devil's Advocateof CA10:30AM January 29, 2009
It also appears that the manufacturers that have used the tainted peanut products are also culpable. Did they test their incoming ingredients or outgoing products? Did they instead trust that the supplier was complying with the law.
As far as getting the FBI involved. That may be the case after the FDA is done. The FDA has the scientific now how to chase this down and get all the facts straight.
One needs to remember that the FDA does not and can not check all manufacturers on a continuing basis. Even if the FDA budget is increased greatly the whole system stll will have to rely on the assumption that food manufacturers will use GMP and comply with food safety laws. When they don't, then severe penalties are needed to teach other manufacturers that the costs of cutting corners are much greater than those of doing things the right way.
Salemmof OH10:04AM January 29, 2009
I have worked in the food industry and have seen first hand how far a company will go to cover up their blunders in the sake of the big corporate name they hold. The hard fact is, most people who are hired to handle and process food are unskilled, uneducated, most likely foreigners or from a foreign country that do not have codes and policies we have. Another thing is an American company can refrain from disclosing where they get there product on the label. The peanuts very much well could have been from Mexico or even Thailand...The ingredients could be from various parts of the world as well...The thing they are telling you is the product may be manufactured in the USA, but not from the US. And I am not saying the product is unsafe because it is from another country, but our choices are usually from the poorest, disease ridden third-world countries where cheap labor is very easy to find. This is in order to cut costs on their end. The problem with cutting costs is the quality declines to the point of unsafe and dangerous. The food industry is among the scariest things I can imagine. The pharmaceutical companies don't even compare to the scandal the food industry gets away with. I don't even eat from cans of packages anymore. I grow my own vegetables and buy free range meat from a non-corporate grocery store. I wish the Government would focus more on what is put in our bodies, rather than letting these corporate pigs get away with murdering us either very quickly or slowly with the chemicals they use!!!
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Mary A. Hellmann of IL 11:26AM February 06, 2009
keke of GA 1:33PM February 04, 2009
Thomas of CA 7:07PM February 02, 2009
Ariel of NJ 5:20PM February 02, 2009
hsr0601 of NY 6:27PM February 01, 2009
Jim White of ID 10:02PM January 31, 2009
Thomas of CA 3:07PM January 30, 2009
Devil's Advocate of CA 10:30AM January 29, 2009
Salemm of OH 10:04AM January 29, 2009
Sammy of CA 4:38PM January 28, 2009