Industry Controls USDA Role in Peanut Safety.... Aflatoxins

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Feb. 9, 2009:

Industry Controls USDA Role in Peanut Safety

The Agriculture department's advisory committee charged with ensuring the

safety of exported peanuts is comprised entirely of industry representatives,

including the chief executive of the firm responsible for the massive

salmonella-outbreak that has been linked to at least eight deaths and sickened

more

than 500 in the U.S. The _Peanut Standards Board_

(http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateA & nav\

ID=PeanutQualityStandards &

rightNav1=PeanutQualityStandards & topNav= & leftNav=CommodityAreas & page=PeanutSta

ndardsBoard & resultType= & acct=fvgeninfo) , which was exempted from federal

conflict-of-interest rules in the 2002 Farm Bill, advises the Secretary of

Agriculture on designing safety and handling _rules_

(http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-12156.htm) that are designed to

minimize aflatoxin contamination.

USDA, which usually has no role in non-meat food safety, gets involved in

peanut safety because high levels of aflatoxin, which can cause developmental

abnormalities and increases liver cancer risk, make peanuts unsuitable for

export.

The 18-member Peanut Standards Board has no consumer, public health or

environmental health representatives. But, as reported by the Atlanta

Journal-Constitution, it does include Parnell, president of the _Peanut

Corporation of America_

(http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/stories/2009/01/31/parnell_0201.html)

, which faces a possible criminal investigation for the

ongoing-Salmonella-related outbreak. The Agriculture department removed him from

the committee last week. The board recently _recommended_

(http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5053432) peanut

handling practices

that would lower industry costs when drying peanuts to meet export standards.

It's never taken up safety standards to prevent Salmonella contamination.

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