An Open Response To America's Top Peanut Farmer's Open Letter
(Factory Food • Verbatim)
Dear Mr. Neitsch,
While I’ll be unable to attend your March 4-5 meet-and-greet, I do have a couple of questions I’d pose to you and other members of the National Peanut Board were my schedule to permit.
First, let me say that I love peanuts and peanut butter. I am sure that, as a group, American peanut farmers are even more disturbed about the recent salmonella escapades than most of the rest of us, as it no doubt has knocked the very stuffing out of peanut commodity prices and processed product sales, among other things. As much as I love peanuts and peanut butter, I would love it even more if I could find a reliable source that was produced without pesticides and chemical fertilizers, because I get the feeling that stuff sticks to my DNA, and I’m tired of seeing it gum up the river out back.
That said, allow me to pose a question:
According to your web site, the New York Q&A session is part of an attempt to win back my trust in your peanuts and the products they find their way into. To bolster this effort you say in your letter, “Major national brands of jarred peanut butter found in grocery stores have not been among the products recalled.” Is that the best you can do?
If it is, all I can say is, remember ConAgra, Peter Pan and 2007?
So really, my question is, can’t you guys do better than this? We want to buy your products, we really do. We like them, and we like the idea that we share a connection with real salt-of-the-Earth American farmers. But we also don’t like to puke. So why won’t the major peanut-butter makers disclose somewhere on their jars the lot number of the product, the origin of manufacture, and a certification that it has been tested and found to be free of salmonella and like contaminants?
Granted, in order for the food processors’ claims of certification to be in any way meaningful, they’d have to make their salmonella testing procedures available publicly. Say on their web sites.
Think of it as the equivalent of a school district or county government putting its check registry online – just a matter of transparency and good business.
It also would be a way to build confidence in the peanuts you deliver to these guys.
Now, if I were a peanut-butter manufacturer, and felt consumer pressure to deliver a certifiably safe food product to grocery stores, I think I might want some level of certification in turn from my growers.
So the smart manufacturer might ask ya’ll, for instance, for proof that you aren’t growing peanuts in a field down the hill from, for instance, a cow pasture. Or that you aren’t using non-composted horse manure on your crops. Because as you know salmonella begins in some critter’s intestines, and doesn’t come from some sort of airborne spoors or slime mold.
So anyway, if you promise to certify that your crops are free from contaminants when they reach the factory gate, and the factory certifies that they went into the jar contaminant-free, I promise to increase my annual peanut butter intake by 25% over 2008 levels.
Deal?
——original message——
An Open Letter From America’s Peanut Farmers
No one is more deeply disturbed by the recent salmonella crisis than the thousands of USA peanut farmers and their families. For generations, we’ve worked to deliver the freshest, most wholesome peanuts possible because we value the bond we’ve built up with you over the years.Peanuts, peanut butter and peanut products, as much as any food, are part of the American experience, from the familiar PB&J in millions of school lunch boxes to the many innovative uses introduced each year. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that your confidence in peanuts and peanut butter has helped them become affordable, nutritious staples in the American pantry. But recent events beyond our control have shaken that confidence, and caused many to question the integrity of the peanuts we nurture and grow.
We are all deeply upset by the actions of one isolated company. We may be peanut farmers, but we also are fathers, mothers, sons and daughters—and consumers—just like you. So we understand and share your concerns.
This company’s actions also have led to confusion about what is safe to eat. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, “Major national brands of jarred peanut butter found in grocery stores have not been among the products recalled,” and a vast array of other peanut butters and peanut products are also unaffected. We want to help answer your questions. Please visit www.nationalpeanutboard.org, where you’ll find resources and important links to help get the information you need.
America’s peanut farmers care. That’s why we are in support of efforts to safeguard and protect the growing, manufacturing and distribution of our peanuts. We don’t want anyone to ever worry about the safety of peanuts or any food product again.
We will be in New York City at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal on March 4 and 5—to meet and talk with you, answer questions and to share some of the tastes you’ve always loved. This is one of many events we have scheduled throughout the country in the coming months.
We value your trust. We also know it’s something we have to earn every day.
Sincerely,Roger Neitsch
Texas Peanut Farmer
Chairman, The National Peanut Board
→ B.Dunn, Feb 27, 2009, 04 54 am
