Public can't be the testing ground for food safety

This editorial appears in the Yakima Herald-Republic on Feb. 13, 2009

As the facts come out about Georgia's Peanut Corp. of America, it's becoming clear that all the regulations in the world won't help if a company simply ignores them.

According to Associated Press reports, plant management knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products in 2007. Federal investigators, when they finally did show up at the plant, discovered mold, dead roaches and four different types of salmonella. Former employees also told stories about a large and prospering rat population.

Too bad the plant didn't get condemned back then. It might have saved the nine people who have died from eating products that contained tainted peanut ingredients, and the many who became sick -- a number that could be as high as 19,000 in 43 states.

We rapped the Chinese last fall for the melamine-tainted milk that killed at least four children and sickened some 50,000. We need to apply those same standards of criticism here. The one factor that seems to tie the cases together is greed with callous disregard for human life.

Even after an initial test showed salmonella at the peanut plant, officials there failed to wait long enough for a second test to come back and instead shipped products knowing they likely were contaminated.

Of course, it's not as if the federal government was all over this travesty. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration apparently didn't even know the Georgia plant was making peanut butter. When the company's tests revealed salmonella -- a sign that there's a presence of human or animal feces -- the FDA wasn't informed. In fact, the law doesn't require the federal government to be told.

This is inexcusable. The public cannot be used as guinea pigs in the food chain. Relying permanently on companies to police the food safety for our nation doesn't work, especially when a less-than-reputable plant like the one in Georgia puts the health of its profits over the health of consumers.

A worthwhile way to raise money and release frustrations

At last, the Legislature has a measure that's worth betting on.

Really, how can you be against a law that would allow cities and counties the chance to hold raffles to bail them out of hock?

Under House Bill 1273, a county or city would be considered a nonprofit organization so they could hold raffles, but only for limited purposes: for community activities or tourism promotion.

Rep. Cary Condetta, R-East Wenatchee, is gambling that his bill will succeed. It has already passed out of the Commerce and Labor Committee and appears headed for the "pay out" window. The city of East Wenatchee asked for the legislation after the state's gambling commission changed its rules recently to exclude raffles for cities and counties.

Admittedly, these raffles have not been a mega-success. East Wenatchee's raffle two years ago netted a mere $700.

The law, though, does embrace a broad definition of the term raffle. It includes games like poker runs, cake walks, rubber duck races or any event in which a person buys a ticket for less than $25 each with the hope of getting a prize when a winning ticket is selected.

The imagination soars at the possibilities of future raffle events.

Think of two words: dunk tank. Imagine the ticket sales for the city of Yakima that features a dunk tank with City Manager Dick Zais sitting on the "wet" seat? Mad about the way the traffic lights work at 16th and Summitview avenues? Take out your frustrations by dunking Joan Davenport, the city's supervising traffic engineer. Got a gripe about that junkyard being placed at the gateway to the Yakima Valley's wineries? Wind up and toss a strike at the magic plunger to soak Yakima County Commissioner Mike Leita.

Yes, in these tight economic times, cities and counties need to be creative. But skip the cake walks. We recommend dunk tanks. They are a lot, well, cleaner.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Barbara Serrano, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.