Looks like pistachios are joining the legions of foods now suspected of salmonella contamination. From the FDA:
The FDA and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are investigating Salmonella contamination in pistachio products sold by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc, Calif. The company has stopped all distribution of processed pistachios and will issue a voluntary recall involving approximately 1 million pounds of its products. Because the pistachios were used as ingredients in a variety of foods, it is likely this recall will impact many products. In addition, the investigation at the company is ongoing and may lead to additional pistachio product recalls.
Add this to peanut butter, green onions, spinach, tomatoes, bean sprouts, pancake mix, chocolate, cantaloupes, chicken, pork, clams, and risotto, and I’m starting to wonder if we should all revert to saltines and ginger ale. Not that either of those are necessarily safe. You might want to start checking the Salmonella Blog regularly to keep up to date on what may or may not be good to eat.
Kmareka.com 
The problem with today’s food supply is that the huge conglomerates like ADM have let the processing define the end product.
Shouldn’t the desired end product define the processes?
If ever there was a reason for more home gardening, the recent recalls and struggles of all potentially contaminated and contaminated food items provides the justification. Of course, with available garden space and available horses and cows for fertilizer, it’s easier here in the Southwest. Added to knowing what you grow, the additional excercise makes the effort all that much useful. On a foray into New York City last year, I was struck by the neighborhood gardens that looked fantastic in densely populated urban environments. It is amazing how much one can grow on very small plots of ground if properly tended. So forget about the spinach scare, or tomato issues; grow your own.
Donald that is a great thing to do.
Unfortunately so many of the working poor spend too many hours at one or more jobs to be able to garden, even if they had a place to do it.
I’ve seen some of the gardens you mention.
I can’t help but think they are tended by fairly well to do folks already. Of course I don’t know that and this is just my opinion.
If local people could just use the already existing government programs (like foodstamps) at their local farmer’s markets….
Notice how these things are coming fast and furious after 8 years of GWB appointees at the FDA?
Coincidence?
No.
When you appoint people who don’t believe in science, but who believe that businesses should be free to poison whomever they wish, this is what you get.
Exactly klaus.
Makes one wonder how many of those appointees are creationists and evolution deniers.
Eating raw clams is just a bad idea altogether.
Chicken and pork should be cooked through-that kills salmonella.
How you people stretch this to blame Bush is questionable.I think NAFTA is more to blame because of unsanitary growing practices south of the border.
I think the conditions for salmonella started long ago with the introduction of mega processing centers for food products.The contamination could start small and become widespread because of the methods employed.
The US is far from the only place to centralize certain types of food processing.
The EU countries practice this as do Morocco(skinless&boneless sardines),Indonesia(crab),and Thailand(shrimp)just to name a few.
You’re very knowledgeable about food processing, Joe!
Thanks-when I was a kid we got fresh killed chicken from around the corner-the world’s itchiest job had to be the guy who sat in the back of the butcher shop plucking the chickens.
The point being that salmonella didn’t get established in these chickens because they didn’t float around for hours in a contaminated soup with thousands of other chickens.
I learned about centralized food processing almost by chance while I was in the Netherlands and struck up a friendly relationship with a poultry butcher and a seafood vendor.They explained how certain countries developed an expertise at one aspect of processing foods.
When it’s done right,there are benefits and consistency of quality,but when something goes wrong-watch out!The results get magnified exponentially,like in the peanut/salmonella outbreak.
We haven’t even mentioned such things as e coli and listeria.The latter is tough because it’s usually in foods that are not heated for eating.I’m not sure listeria is even susceptible to heat like e coli is.
Do you like warm water ocean fish?Check out ciguatera poisoning-about as much fun as a black widow spider bite.
How do I blame Bush? Very easily, Joe.
Enforcement was a very, very, very low priority for him. The people he put in charge of regulatory agencies (FDA, Mine Safety, etc) were usually from the industry. Their priority was making sure that industry didn’t suffer from pesky regulations.
After all, the market will police itself. Of course, people will have to die, first, but that’s just collateral damage in the class war. Sure, that peanut factory is out of business, but how does that benefit the families of the people who were poisoned by the lax environment?
Or like the several mine disasters in which mine owners cut back on the sort of safety equipment that would have saved livess.
Or like his SEC chairmen, who were asleep at the wheel, if not aiding and abetting. Did you know that in 2004, the SEC allowed changes to the rules on the amount of capital reserves that banks had to maintain? Probably not. It wasn’t exactly publicized at the time, but it allowed Lehman, Bear Stearns, Goldman, Citi to leverage themselves at a 30 or 40 to 1 ratio. We’re now suffering the consequences of that decision.
You blast Jack Reed (appropriately, I might add, and I agree with you) for taking money from the banking industry, but seem to have a blind spot when it comes to seeing the big role Republicans have had in undermining the health and safety of all of us.
Then there’s the IRS, which was instructed not to audit wealthy individuals, who are ripping us off for millions of dollars. Instead, the IRS was instructed to go after people claiming the Earned Income credit. Spend all those resources to go after a lousy couple hundred bucks. In the business world, expending resources on minimal return is a one-way ticket to unemployment.
That’s mining, banking, food processing, the IRS… anyone else seeing a pattern here?
That’s how I blame Bush.
Tyson Foods,one of the two largest chicken processors in the country,was a major supporter of Bill Clinton and saved money by using thousands illegal aliens.
Barney Frank had a personal sexual relationship with the head of Freddie Mac.
It’s easy to go tit for tat on the subject of slimy politicians.
I haven’t got a blind spot about Bush’s shortcomings,but I dont think he’s responsible for EVERY problem all by himself.
Most politicians use their positions in the worst possible ways.
Party affiliation is trumped by self centered greed.