Peanut Corp. knew peanuts were covered with salmonella
The fruits of Republican/Conservative "hands off" approach to American business. So far, eight deaths and 575 illnesses in 43 states.
According to the FDA, as far back as 2007, salmonella-laced products were shipped by Peanut Corp., a Georgia company, that knew the peanuts probably were tainted and sometimes after tests confirmed the contamination.
I love this bit:
The USDA was one of Peanut Corp.'s two biggest clients at the time. USDA officials also regularly visited the plant, including in recent years. But those agency workers were not trained to perform food safety inspections, USDA spokesman Jerry Redding said.
The USDA visits to the plant were made by "contract auditors" who are "number crunchers," Redding said, who know nothing about peanuts. They only visited to review records, he said.
I had no idea the federal government bought vast quantities of peanuts from Peanut Corp. to feed poor children. Who knew the Republicans hated poor people so much, and could care less if they were poisoned?
It will be interesting to see if DOJ uncovers the cute lobbying and corruption of USDA officials in the Bush government on behalf of Peanut Corp. I hope elections have consequences to the effect that criminal negligence and even intentional misconduct on the part of food processors will be prosecuted, and not simply bargained away. DOJ had a habit under the Bush government of making deals with big corporations to not do bad things again and self-police themselves better, instead of making a criminal indictment.
Peanut Corp. CEO Stewart Parnell used to be on the USDA's Peanut Board writing safety regulations apparently.
Luckily, the FDA is on the ball:
Secretary Tom Vilsack also removed Stewart Parnell, president of the company, from USDA's Peanut Standards Board.
I am so happy our federal government (a privately held subsidary of the Republican party) is keeping us safe from food poisoning.
Why should it surprise any progressive human that Stewart Parnell is a Republican, apparently? It fits the MO of the Bush government to install self-interested businessmen in regulatory positions, especially fund raisers and lobbyists for Bush.