Contaminated Pistachios Re-Enter Market After Recall
Just what does a company do with recalled food products? If you’re the irresponsible Orca Distribution West Inc. of Anaheim, California you simply repackage them for sale. FDA officials says that this company received and resold pistachios that had been recalled by Setton Pistachios of Terra Bella Inc. Those pistachios had been recalled because of possible salmonella contamination, which can cause serious or even fatal infections.
The USDA is warning people not eat California Prime Produce or Orange County Orchards-brand pistachios. The list of 664 pistachio products identified and recalled by the FDA (as of Tuesday, June 23rd) can be found here.
Unfortunately, a lot of consumers mistakenly believe that once a product has been recalled, it is automatically removed from points of sale and whisked away to some undisclosed location where it is destroyed. This would be a best-case scenario. The means of notifying distributors and consumers about recalls is disjointed, to say the least. (See Obama Foodorama’s look at the Nestle’ Cookie Dough still on sale at a local supermarket. The blogger goes into more detail how ineffective recalls can be.)
When I tried to look up food industry recall protocols, the search engine turned up many sites full of consice instruction…from Australia…Even trying different terms and adding “America” or “United States” turned up nothing. This nothing if not disheartening.
Looking to the future, Marion Nestle summarizes new legislation that would improve the US’s food system. Congress is finally moving in the right direction, but it is not enough:
Food safety: the House just passed its version of a bill that will overhaul some aspects of the present food safety system. This bill still has a long way to go but is a hopeful sign that Congress might actually do something to fix the FDA. What the bill does not do is deal with fixing the system. It exempts meat, poultry, and eggs under USDA jurisdiction.
Produce safety: The new head of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, says her agency is going to put special efforts into ensuring the safety of high-risk produce. To do that, she will need Congress to pass laws that, among other things, give the FDA the authority to order recalls and a lot more money to carry out its work.
Let’s hope the maxim “better late than never” gets applied to the reworking of our food system, rather than “too little, too late”. At the very least, let us knock Australia out of it’s top Google rankings on food recall protocol. (USA! USA! USA!)
[Alright, that is awkward outside of an Army base or an Olympic stadium.]
{Stopping this nonsense now.}
June 26, 2009
Tags: agriculture, FDA, food safety, Health, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics
3 Responses
This kind of nutty behavior unacceptable. Complaints aside, though, is it really feasible to have an infrastructure in place that ensures tainted foods do go to an “undisclosed location” for destruction?
check out the link for info on protocol:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/FSIS_Food_Recalls/index.asp
Thanks for the heads up, Carey. I found this bit from their FAQ to be a little strange:
“Who decides when a recall is necessary?
Recalls are initiated by the manufacturer or distributor of the meat or poultry, sometimes at the request of FSIS. All recalls are voluntary. However, if a company refuses to recall its products, then FSIS has the legal authority to detain and seize those products in commerce.”
My question is why is everything voluntary? Is it so that the companies appear to be better serving the public? How about not letting the food get contaminated in the first place. That would be a reputable public service.
Also, sorry Thunadir, no word on the undisclosed location of food recall cemeteries. I asked “Karen”, the automated represenative for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, what happens to the recalled food and got nothing. She gives a list of questions she thinks is close to the question you asked. #14 on my list of related questions: “What happens if eggs sweat?” Right…
Go ahead, ask her anything: http://askkaren.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/askkaren.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php
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