Salmonella Peanut Butter (With A Silver Lining)

(MoneyWatch)  Oops. I previously said that Peanut Corporation of America might have found salmonella in some of its products but simply re-tested them until it managed to get a negative result. I apologize if I portrayed the company unfairly.

In fact, it was worse.

The Food and Drug Administration is now saying there's evidence PCA didn't even wait for the negative test results before shipping off possibly contaminated products, and sometimes new tests weren't even ordered.

And in case that doesn't make you feel bad enough about our food safety system, earlier this month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported (h/t Food Politics):

The president of the peanut company linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak serves on an industry advisory board that helps the U.S. Department of Agriculture set quality standards for peanuts.

Yep. Stewart Parnell, PCA's president, joined the Peanut Standards Board in 2005 and was reappointed last October for a second term. The board is more about classifications than safety -- "jumbo" peanuts versus "medium" peanuts, etc. -- but "quality and handling standards" are also part of the job description.

Parnell has now been booted from the board, and PCA has been banned from government contracts. (Though to put this in perspective, a few commentators have pointed out that in China, some of those responsible for the melamine problem now face the death penalty.)

But I am optimistic about this latest salmonella outbreak -- and not just because the FDA insists PCA's particular bad habits are not "rampant" throughout the peanut industry.

I'm hopeful that, unlike after all the other food scandals of the past few years, things might actually change this time. The call for reform has been steadily growing, even attracting industry voices, but with President Obama himself joining the chorus, maybe something will happen other than lip service.

There are some positive signs. The state of Georgia is looking at revamping its local food safety laws. And at the national level, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Friday that one single agency should oversee food safety, as opposed to the bizarre split we currently have between the FDA and the USDA (plus the CDC and the EPA, not to mention state regulators...)

And though Vilsack hasn't had time yet to do a whole lot in terms of concrete actions, his rhetoric is promising. Last week he called for a "new day" at the USDA and said the agency should address the best interests of food consumers as well as food producers. Even industrial food chain skeptic Michael Pollan seemed impressed with Vilsack's words, though as he put it himself, "Whether they'll be reflected in policies remains to be seen."