Spring Break
Seeking safety in food products, state lawmakers take action
DALLAS DUNCAN
Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: News
After causing more than 400 illnesses and at least five deaths, the Peanut Corporation of America's Blakely processing facility is making its way back into the headlines - this time via the Georgia General Assembly.
A salmonella outbreak originating in Blakely caused a "need for changes in Georgia law to create a better oversight opportunity," said Georgia's 11th District Senator John Bulloch in an interview Monday.
"The issue that brought all this to the surface was that individuals disrespected the safety of the consumer" by allegedly shipping products known to be contaminated with salmonella, he said.
Bulloch is one of six senators sponsoring Senate Bill 80, which he hopes "will regain consumer confidence," especially for products from Georgia facilities.
The bill is "a step in the right direction," Scott Angle, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said in an interview Monday. "This is not just a state problem; changes in the [Food and Drug Administration] regulation system are needed just as much as changes at the state level."
The bill is an amendment to an existing article of the Official Code of Georgia. It seeks to broaden the inspection policies, rules and regulation associated with food processing in Georgia.
Some of the changes include frequency of product testing, implementing a 24-hour window in which facilities must alert the Georgia Department of Agriculture of a food-borne pathogen and requiring companies to make available any "pathogen destruction records," Georgia Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture Oscar Garrison said in an interview Monday.
In the case of the Blakely plant and other peanut processing facilities, the pathogen destruction records are known as "roasting logs."
"The temperature of a roaster and the time [the peanuts are in it] determine the color and to some degree the flavor" of the finished peanuts, in addition to killing microorganisms, Bulloch said.
A salmonella outbreak originating in Blakely caused a "need for changes in Georgia law to create a better oversight opportunity," said Georgia's 11th District Senator John Bulloch in an interview Monday.
"The issue that brought all this to the surface was that individuals disrespected the safety of the consumer" by allegedly shipping products known to be contaminated with salmonella, he said.
Bulloch is one of six senators sponsoring Senate Bill 80, which he hopes "will regain consumer confidence," especially for products from Georgia facilities.
The bill is "a step in the right direction," Scott Angle, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said in an interview Monday. "This is not just a state problem; changes in the [Food and Drug Administration] regulation system are needed just as much as changes at the state level."
The bill is an amendment to an existing article of the Official Code of Georgia. It seeks to broaden the inspection policies, rules and regulation associated with food processing in Georgia.
Some of the changes include frequency of product testing, implementing a 24-hour window in which facilities must alert the Georgia Department of Agriculture of a food-borne pathogen and requiring companies to make available any "pathogen destruction records," Georgia Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture Oscar Garrison said in an interview Monday.
In the case of the Blakely plant and other peanut processing facilities, the pathogen destruction records are known as "roasting logs."
"The temperature of a roaster and the time [the peanuts are in it] determine the color and to some degree the flavor" of the finished peanuts, in addition to killing microorganisms, Bulloch said.
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Food Facts
posted 3/24/09 @ 7:41 AM EST
ALL food borne illnesses originate from animal agriculture! Meat, dairy and eggs kill and sicken humans in many different ways.
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