Sunday, February 8, 2009

Peanuts...scary stuff these days

I am sure sure anyone within visual contact of this blog post has heard about the Peanut Salmonella scare that is sweeping the nation.

So far there are 8 people who have died, 575 confirmed cases and 1,550 products recalled. This is the big time folks and it ain't pretty. If you have't yet plugged into the ugly, filthy, disgusting details and want to; check here, here , here and here.

So, I got this letter from my Costco stating, "our records indicate that you have purchased Clif Bar & Company products from Costco within the last 6 months..."

Holy peanuts, I am glad they keep track of all this stuff but 6 months ago!? That is a lot of Zbars down the old gullet! The letter went on to list the specific products of concern.

Clif Kid Orgnaic Zbar Peanut Butter - Best/Sell by: 07JUL09 to 05SEP09, and 12NOV09

I have mentioned and reviewed this product several times on this blog. This is a staple in our house and Shea whips through a box with frightening speed. But, because he is allergic to Peanuts, he never ate the peanut variety. In fact, repeatedly I would buy the variety pack and had to donate the Peanut Butter ones to the Food Bank until I wised up and found a place I could get, in bulk, just the flavor that Shea could eat. Meanwhile, what about all the Zbars I sent to the food bank!? Yikes!

Reading down the list:

Luna Bars Nuts Over Chocolate - Best/Sell by: 29JUL09 to 03 OCT 09 and 11NOV09 to 14NOV09.

I almost spit out my Luna Bar when I read that!!! I literally have one of those deliciously chocolately, multi-vitamin disquised as a candy bar, marketed to the ladies energy bar most every single day! It's my treat. It's the thing I eat at about 3:00 before the kids get home from school when dinner is just a vague vision on the horizon. I love those things!

Quick; scurry to the stash! Checking dates, dates, dates, lots of dates...whew. None match the offending, scary dates. I guess I dodged this peanut shaped bullet...this time.

But, it got me thinking about how susceptible we are to quality control in the food supply. How chincing, fudging, lying and making it easy to lie can literally kill people.

What a damn shame. And, now they are saying this stuff has been sent out to schools for the lunch program?!

I'll tell you people, food is one of the few things we still actually make in the country. Can we please, expect, demand, insist that our food supply is safe?

4 comments:

Holly said...

Thanks for this post, it was informative--I didn't know that other food were of concern, as well. I, too, buy and eat Luna bars. And even scarier is the fact that my daughter practically lives off peanut butter--always has. It’s a terrible thing and a nightmare that we can’t always be sure that the food that we are supposed to trust to be safe, can sometimes be harmful.

And thanks for visiting my blog!!;)

Jake Dillon said...

You too, Holly. I put your blog on my blog roll so I can keep track of you guys.

My little guy is allergic to peanuts but the 10 year old daughter scarfs it down. I think we are making the family move to Almond Butter for a while. ;-)

Take care!

Heidi on Vashon said...

Amen, sister.
I work with a grocery client and have to write the alerts for them. It is a frightening time we're in when profit rules over safety. That nut processor seemed to ignore its own food safety test reuslts and kept on going. It's awful. David and I think we were among the sick in Dec after eating said Clif. Like, not fit to talk about on the blog kinda sick...

Jake Dillon said...

Yuk! Sure makes you double thick what the heck I put in the old mouth! Hang in there and it's nice to hear from you. Take care.

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