The recent salmonella outbreak that was linked to peanut butter and peanut paste has resulted in one of the largest recalls in the country. These recalls which initially started with bulk items containing peanuts are growing everyday and this week more than 800 recalls of peanut products were expected.

The company behind it all, the Peanut Corp. of America, widened its recall to include two years worth of production and added peanuts, peanut meal and other products to the peanut butter and paste recall. According to the GMA, PCA supplied less than 1 % of peanut products sold in the U. S. while the FDA said the company had more than
300 customers. "A pound of their product ends up in 100 pounds of other products," says John Sniffen of Orchard Valley Harvest, which last week recalled peanuts packed for Safeway.

Although major brands are safe and companies such as Unilever (UN), maker of Skippy, and ConAgra Foods (CAG), which sells Peter Pan, have told consumers as much on their websites, Brackett fears like past food scares have shown to be true, consumers will tire of checking recall lists and begin shunning anything with peanuts.

The burgeoning recalls have the $1 billion peanut farming industry on edge and Emory Murphy, assistant executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission said, "This could affect demand. The Department of Justice on Friday joined in the investigation of Peanut Corp. of America, raising the possibility of criminal charges, although many experts believe the penalties are not strict enough.

The food industry had asked the government nine years ago for permission to destroy germs in processed foods by zapping them with radiation. Radiation is said to be safe by the FDA and believed by many experts to be the ideal way to reduce or even eliminate such food related issues. In this process food is irradiated by a brief exposure to X-rays, gamma rays or an electron beam which is said to reduce or eliminate harmful bacteria, insects and parasites as well as extend the life of certain products.

In 2006 after more than 200 people were sickened by spinach tainted with E coli and three died as a result, the FDA gave them the go ahead to radiate spinach and iceberg lettuce which is yet to begin. Radiation of meat is permitted though rarely used and only spices and imported products like mangoes from India are routinely treated with radiation.

Irradiation is not widely used in the country as food manufacturers worry that the apparent benefits do not justify the costs. Also some consumer groups feel that with irradiation coming in it would help the food industry cover up its hygiene problems, while others worry about the long term safety of consuming food which has been subjected to radiation. "Our society is running around with our head in the sand because we have ways to prevent illness and death that aren't being used," said Christine Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer Research at the University of California, Davis. "The rules are so tight on irradiation that you can't pull it out and use it when a new problem arises, and that's to the detriment of the American public."

Suresh Pillai, director of the National Center for Electron Beam Research at Texas A&M University, compared fears of irradiation to early phobias about the pasteurization of milk."It's unnecessary for people to be getting sick today with pathogens in spinach or pathogens in peanut butter," said Professor Pillai, who described the potential for irradiation of food as "humongous." "We have the technologies to prevent this kind of illness."

Advocates in favor of the process say irradiation is effective in killing pathogens in items like ground beef and lettuce, where they might be mixed into the middle of the product or hiding in a crevice that is hard to clean by traditional means. Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food and Water Watch, an advocacy group said irradiation not only kills bacteria but can also destroy nutrients in food. "There's a whole impact on the food product, which we think is an unacceptable cost." The debate continues as new outbreaks with different products come and go.