Perhaps with the peanut butter related illnesses, deaths and massive recalls, the assumption would have been that the situation could not deteriorate further. Unfortunately, that assumption would be wrong:

“The government acknowledged Friday that a shipment of peanuts from the plant linked to a salmonella outbreak contained a “filthy, putrid or decomposed substance” later identified as metal fragments. The shipment was returned to the U.S. in April, months earlier than reflected in a federal tracking database.”

link: Peanuts tainted with metal fragments

It is daunting that material described as a “filthy, putrid or decomposed substance” had even a remote possibility of entering the food chain.

I would like to address an point raised in a few comments that have appeared on this salmonella topic. It has been pointed out that the number of illnesses and deaths caused by this problem constitutes only a minuscule sample of the American population. The argument follows along the lines of ‘its not significant problem’. The question then becomes ‘at what point does having a contaminated food product in the supply chain reach significance?’. The deterioration of the security standard for food safety should concern every citizen. I would venture to say that these people who deem this problem as insignificant would have a change of opinion should a food tragedy visit upon one of their family members.

Catherine Forsythe