A Tale of Two Cities

It would seem the votes are in, the polling stations closed and the peanut butter has hit the fan. Newspapers and government websites are now reporting in that indeed peanut butter was the culprit for the recent spate of Salmonella incursions into the US general public and that the source of the outbreak appears to be entirely limited to the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely, GA. The outbreak, now apparently contained, has claimed at least 6 lives and caused distress in at least 486 others across 40 states. Included in the list of the 125 recalled products are some pet foods and health bars!

This outbreak is yet another in a spate of incidences over the past 12 months or more that have ravaged large sectors of the US food industry, resulting in intensive epidemiologic studies costing the federal and state authorities (and subsequently, the private tax-paying citizen) millions of dollars. Bill Marler, in his blog “Peanut Butter Salmonella - The Seven Year Old and the President”, quotes newly elected President Obama as having said “Far too often, tainted food is not recalled until too late,” Mr. Obama said last year. “When I am president, it will not be business as usual when it comes to food safety. I will provide additional resources to hire more federal food inspectors.” It will be interesting to see how federal funds are now shuffled to confront this inexcusable lack of food safety in a country which should know better.

And this, hot on the trail of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, where it was the US teams who were most vocal in their concerns over food safety in China’s capital (example headlines include “Wary U.S. Olympians Will Bring Food to China” in The New York Times, 09 February 2008).

Memories of gold medalists and tragic defeats wane into the past. But what remains of the incredible undertaking that goes in to the preparations of and by the host nation? Specifically, China’s almost regimental grit to make this event as safe as possible, attempting to remove all doubt that health and sanitation in one of the world’s most populated regions, is on par with that of Western nations. By August 22 2008, no single safety incident occurred related to food for the Beijing Olympics, as reported by official spokesperson for Food Safety Coordination at the Beijing Food Safety Administration Office, Tang Yunhua. The Olympic food safety guarantee team monitored a total of 1 616 830 sets of meals, including breakfasts, lunches, dinners and late night snacks for athletes, officials and accredited media members.

Personally, I am impressed with the efforts of China’s attempts to ensure health and safety for what could become a powerfully driven tourism venture. I am curious however to see whether these efforts will be sustained for its own people now that we’ve had the last curtain call … proverbially speaking, of course.