How many more recalls of a food product (peanut butter this time)

[Marc]

Something fishy? Counterfeit foods enter the U.S. market

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

Some of your favorite foods may be fakes.

Foods masquerading as something else — a more nutritious something else — have been big news in the past two years. Chinese food companies in particular have been blamed for making deadly alterations to dairy, baby and pet foods by adding melamine. The chemical makes it appear that the food or beverage has the required level of protein.

But what about food producers in this country? What fraudulent foods do U.S. consumers have to fear from American companies? Experts say dangerous U.S.-produced foods are comparatively few, but producers have been known to practice "economic adulteration" — adding a little to their bottom line by padding, thinning or substituting something cheap for something expensive. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration regulate the food industry, but with safety issues to deal with, economic adulteration has "really been back-burnered," says Bruce Silverglade of the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest. So in a caveat emptor world, what should consumers look out for?

Read more....

 

[tsmith7858]

Interesting article, we had similar things in my past industry of wood working. Not to burst the bubble of anyone that may think they have a nice solid piece of furniture but there a rules that allow for substitutions with veneered particle board (or similar) and even different species of wood.

We produced doors for a "Solid Cherry" product in which no solid cherry was actually used. It was a veneer particle board panel surrounded by Soft Maple or Poplar framing.

Rule of thumb, the darker the stain, the more suspicious you should become!

 

[AndyN]

Your example, Tim, reminds me of a little expose that the BBC tv did, some years ago, about the amount of chocolate in chocolate products, particularly enrobed products found in the UK.

They showed that there are 'chocolate flavored' coatings, some of which had almost no chocolate butter or related constituents and were mainly wax! There are, of course good reasons for doing such things in some cases - 'good' chocolate often gets a white 'bloom' which is aesthetically unattractive, it melts at body heat which parents hate if they give their kids chocky covered snacks! It's all in the wording of the product descriptors:mg:

However, the nearly all wax products make you wonder what you're getting.....

 

[Sidney Vianna]

I think the article that Marc posted exemplifies that, when it comes to food, there are two issues at hand: food safety and food quality. Most of the standards and schemes out there deal with product safety.

It is possible that a producer of food products mislead consumers about the content and grade of the product. However, gambling with food safety is a more perilous game, imo.

 

[tsmith7858]

This makes it sound like there is at least some talk of requiring third party certifications, http://ptnpa.org/news_pdf/fda_issues_guidance_01-28-09.pdf, but of course it does not name a standard.

Unfortunately they seem more focused on imports than domestic US issues. The current salmonella issue should help to redirect things back to the states.

 

[Marc]

Also see: Peanut Product Recall Took Company Approval.

 

[Sandra Gauvin]

Marc,
It would be interesting to know how much money the FDA receives from the food industry....

Sandra

 

[Marc]

I haven't researched it, but I assume it's more of an issue of how much is given to the various politicians. As I stated earlier, in my opinion we are so far into a culture of deregulation that we have the companies telling the government what to do. It's not always this public and obvious, but we have come to the state where we allow the foxes to run the hen house. Ah, nothing like lobbyists...

 

[Sandra Gauvin]

Marc,
It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Sandra

 

[tsmith7858]

The FDA recall list is now over 1300 products related to peanuts, peanut paste and peanut butter.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm

In an already weak economy, this is going to have a huge impact on the peanut industry. On top of it all, there was already a peanut surplus.

http://www.thepostsearchlight.com/news/2009/feb/03/recall-adds-peanut-stockpile/