Kettles and Pots

      I remember when I was a child and would be tempted to tattle to my mom on one of my siblings, I would always hesitate for fear that I would be subjected to the admonishment..... "You're like the kettle calling the pot black".  As I have been following the most recent peanut product recall debacle effecting our U.S. food industry, I'm feeling like my mom's kettle all over again.

      Several of my recent blogs have been excoriating the Chinese food industry for the whole melamine scandal and what it says about the lack of oversight and testing that has resulted in so many children becoming seriously ill, some actually dying. What was perhaps the most upsetting is that some companies were aware of the problem and did nothing until they got caught.

      So far the salmonella outbreaks attributed to the Peanut Corporation of America's Blakely, Ga. plant have been linked to close to 600 illnesses and may have contributed to as many as 8 deaths. In what may be a parallel to the Chinese scandal is that the FDA is saying that in 2007 and 2008 PCA shipped product that had tested positive for salmonella after retests came up negative. While PCA disagrees with some of the FDA's inspection findings, if in the end it turns out that product that initially tested positive was shipped anyway, we may see criminal charges. After all, taking a "do over" on a close play in a kids game may be allright, but there should be no "do overs" in food testing.

      As I've said in past blogs and on my Publisher's Page in Food Product Design, perhaps it is time that those responsible for these types of incidents spend some time behind bars contemplating their actions. Perhaps that would send a strong message to any others who may be thinking about cutting corners, or giving their products "do overs".