Challenging Times

Salmonella...a peanut warehouse fire...I have heard that bad news comes in threes so what can be next.

This Salmonella problem is much more difficult than the Peter Pan problem a few years ago. It was bad for Peter Pan but they did the perfect recall and lived to tell about it. They have since invested a lot of money in their plant and in education of their employees and are back to sales levels about equal to the pre Salmonella levels.

This peanut butter is not something easily identified by label. It is an ingredient which is harder for consumers to readily identify. You can]t just go look at a brand and get a different brand right now, though that will come once the list can be compiled by FDA. We can't fault FDA for their direction but perhaps for the speed which they can act we would like to see things better. Unfortunately they have been underfunded for the past eight years so they don't have the staff to expedite the process.

As far as the warehouse fire...you are sad anytime a warehouse burns because usually it is extensive which this fire was. When the peanut oil starts burning it burns really hot. It is not the way we want our peanuts consumed.

One bit of good news...we have a new President now and it sure seems he has a pretty positive attitude about America. America is a great place and I hope his positive attitude will become contagious in the American public. The thing I love about working with farmers is that they are optimistic. America needs that attitude right now!