When Stewart Parnell, owner of Peanut Corp. of America, was questioned this week by the “House subcommittee on PB&J” he seemed to have some of his tainted product stuck to the roof of his mouth.
The beleaguered peanut butter magnate, under congressional fire for the recent salmonella epidemic that has thus far claimed nine lives and made 600 others violently ill, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday.
The most dramatic part of the hearings came when Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) offered Parnell a taste of his own poison.
There’s lots of evidence that the Food and Drug Administration knew about the salmonella infection but failed to warn the public. This is problematic because PCA had contracts with the federal government to sell its products as part of the federally-funded free school lunch program, which feeds millions of poverty-level children.
One of the largest food recalls in history is having a rippling effect as even pet products are being yanked off of store shelves.
It’s no small wonder the goober tycoon Parnell has gone into hiding. Just three weeks ago, a Chinese court sentenced two men to death and sent a host of others to prison for last year’s tainted milk fiasco; an international disaster that claimed the lives of six children and made thousands more ill.
As a result of the untold stomach aches Parnell’s greed has allegedly caused, his company now seems on the brink of going belly up. One tragic irony is that Parnell lives in the Virginia town of Lynchburg. Hopefully, nobody will practice lynching.
George Washington Carver, the historic peanut promoter, is probably turning in his grave. Carver, told Congress in 1921, “I do not know of a single case … that complains because peanuts hurt them.” You stand corrected, Mr. Carver.
Hopefully, chocolate is safe. Depriving us of peanut butter cups is bad enough without having to worry about threatening the planet’s second greatest addiction — caffeine, of course, being the first.
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