Free school lunch programs in Cali, Idaho and Minn have tainted peanut butter.
San Francisco, CA (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–The New York Times reported shocking news on Friday regarding the welfare and safety of children benefiting from government school lunch programs. Peanut Corp. of America, the peanut processing company responsible for a nationwide outbreak of salmonella which has sickened over 500 people and killed 8 in 43 states and Canada, shipped over 32 truckloads of roasted peanuts and peanut butter to the government in 2007 and 2008.
The Agriculture Department, who participated in a long government contract with Peanut Corp, shipped the contaminated peanut products to three states for school lunch programs in California, Idaho and Minnesota. Federal regulators are pointing the finger at Peanut Corp’s Blakely, Georgia plant for knowingly shipping products in the presence of 12 positive lab tests for salmonella bacteria. The real shocker, throughout this entire peanut scandal, is the federal and state governments have been the last to recall the contaminated products and warn consumers, specifically school kids.
The United States Department of Agriculture has finally warned the states to pull the peanuts and peanut butter off of their shelves. It seems our nation’s school children have been the last to be protected. The Wall Street Journal first reported the governments’ contracts with Peanut Corp and the involvement of free school lunch programs last week. Idaho State Department of Education who received 1,440 cases from Peanut Corp., in a little over one year, wasn’t informed until January 30, 2009 by federal officials. This is over two weeks after the suspected contaminated salmonella link to Peanut Corp., was found and American companies began a voluntary nationwide recall of several hundred peanut containing products.
While a long list of federal and state agencies were investigating Peanut Corporation of America, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) www.fda.gov, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) www.cdc.gov, and the Department of Justice (DOJ), plus a long list of other government entities, who was policing the government. Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?
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