I’m sure everyone has heard about the peanut butter problems, but here’s the list of recalled products which has been regularly updated.
My advice, as always with these huge food recalls, is to simply avoid anything with any peanut butter in it at all, whether it’s on the list or not. My trust in the FDA knowing what is going on and what is causing the salmonella outbreak is very low … even lower now than it was before the “It’s tomatoes! It’s tomatoes! It’s tomatoes! No, we think it’s peppers!” recall last year. Better to be safe and just not eat peanut butter for a while.
‘Quality control’ used to mean pretty much what the name implied, as in, “would your family be happy with this product or service?”
Nowadays it’s been downgraded to not much more than the complaint department, and what passes for concern is just deflecting customer anger and trying not to let situations get so out of hand as to affect profitability. Most companies hire a really passive person for their QA manager and he handles all the screw-ups and does a lot of apologizing. There’s no emphasis on doing things right the first time; it’s all about making quota (and bonuses). That person is permanently at the bottom of the corporate totem pole.
‘Quality control’ used to mean pretty much what the name implied, as in, “would your family be happy with this product or service?”
I remember those days, but it certainly doesn’t mean that anymore in any field. Now it’s all about saving payroll hours and getting stuff done as cheaply and quickly as possible, consumers be damned. Who cares if the dress someone just bought for $50 falls apart after two wearings or the peanut butter makes some people sick, right?
I have friends who laugh at how picky I have gotten about where my food comes from and how it’s produced. Well, I’d rather pay more and have less by buying from people whose work ethic I agree with than have off-season strawberries and have to wonder if one of them is going to send me on my way to the hospital or worse. If these friends paid more attention to food news and recalls — or me telling them about stuff like that — they might change their tune. Or not. People like to live in a bubble of ignorance, so long as they are getting a good deal on something.
Me, I’d rather spend three times as much money for a jar of peanut butter I know won’t kill me and spend an hour making my own cookies minus all the chemicals and who knows what else. Sure, it sucks, because if we run out I can’t just run to the store at any hour and get more, but we’ve learned to live with that. Not having to stress out about every bite we take makes up for it.