Nuts To You
(Factory Food • Government)
It was bad enough when Peanut Corporation of America was found to have repeatedly discovered salmonella in testing of its peanut products – but shipped them out anyway. Several hundred people got sick, about 150 were hospitalized and nine deaths reportedly occurred as a result.
But it turns out PCA had a customer cut from the same cloth.
Westco Fruit and Nuts Inc. of Irvington, N.J., bought peanuts and peanut products from PCA and has apparently been distributing them ever since, even after the sensational peanut butter recall. The FDA said today that Westco has refused to recall the probably contaminated peanuts it got from PCA which, before PCA filed for bankruptcy, were recalled by PCA itself.
Under current stupid law, the FDA doesn’t have the authority to force companies to recall food products.
So earlier today, U.S. Marshals executed an “inspection warrant” at Westco, on the FDA’s behalf.
“FDA’s enforcement action against Westco Fruit and Nuts is an appropriate step toward removing potentially harmful products from the marketplace, especially when, as in this case, a company is unwilling to share information FDA needs to ensure food safety,” Michael Chappell, the FDA’s acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, said in a press statement. “The FDA uses all appropriate legal means necessary to obtain information and fully investigate firms or individuals who put the health of consumers at risk.”
Tthe nation’s Top Food Cop has a badge and a gun, but sadly, like Barney Fife of the old Andy Griffin Show, that gun has no bullets.
→ B.Dunn, Apr 08, 2009, 11 56 am
