Is the recent peanut butter recall part of a bigger issue in food safety?
Caroline DeWaal: Consumers will probably remember the spinach recall, the pet food recall, as well as this latest peanut butter outbreak and recall. These are signs of a Food and Drug Administration that’s really not capable of controlling problems in the food supply. What have been some of the common links between all of these recalls? DeWaal: These recalls show a failure in the food production system that allows contaminants — sometimes bacteria, sometimes chemicals — to get into the food supply, and they’ve required consumers to go into their cupboards and actually check for a recalled product. Do you think this most recent peanut issue highlights a much bigger problem? DeWaal: The FDA really has mission impossible. It’s in charge of the safety of drugs, medical devices, and 80 percent of the food supply. It’s not surprising that the agency really has not done an adequate job in this mission area of food safety, because it’s almost impossible to do every one of these tasks perfect
