Good news, bad news with new online salmonella resource

by Dr. Alan Inglis

If there’s one thing the FDA is good at – and this may be the only thing – it’s documenting its own incompetence. After monumentally fouling something up, the FDA often does a nice job of helping folks like us understand the scope of the agency’s incompetence.

The FDA has created a pretty useful online tool where you can see exactly which products have been recalled because of the salmonella scare. Maybe you’ve just been avoiding peanut butter and trying to ride this thing out, but there are now more than 125 products on the recall list – and some of them may be sitting in your home.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/8s3mwr and you’ll see the complete list, even separated by product type.

It’s a nice resource, and the FDA owes us that at least. As I told you a few days ago, news has surfaced that the FDA knew about the unsanitary conditions at Peanut Corp.’s Georgia processing facility for 10 months and let them keep selling peanut products.

That facility has now been linked to the salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds in more than 40 states, and may even be responsible for several deaths.

So, anyway, thanks to the FDA for a useful resource… you should check it out right away. It’s just a shame they had to unleash a public health crisis in order to bring it to us.