Super Eco

Photo credit: sarah gilbert

Peanut butter, it seems, was only the beginning. As the months of 2009 wear on, the list of tainted foods grows. Peanuts. Pistachios. Ground pepper. Smoked salmon. More pistachios, more, and more, and more pistachios. In addition to the first few recalled products announced by Kroger and the Georgia Nut Company, the list now includes a growing variety of pistachios, in and out of their shells, roasted and spiced and salted, in trail mixes and nut blends. We are relatively certain this is only the beginning. The batch of pistachios that was tainted was enormous; now reportedly more than 2 million pounds; and bags of a ton each were sold through more than 30 wholesalers.

In Oregon, California, Washington and Nevada, ground black pepper sold under the Lian How and Uncle Chen labels was recalled due to a link to salmonella contamination. And if salmonella laced throughout our food system weren't enough, Wednesday a Mississauga, Ont., company issued a recall for several of its smoked salmon products distributed in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada because they could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Amazingly, we have Kraft to thank for this recall, which was only spurred when the company tested batches of the nuts it received from a wholesaler and found several kinds of salmonella, then informed the FDA. Food safety is most definitely a concern; but even more worrying is the lack of knowledge we have about where the individual ingredients in our food were grown. Given our current food system, which is about logistics far more than it is about taste and quality of ingredients, often even a food's manufacturer doesn't know where the ingredients were harvested. Pistachios, it seems, are only the latest surfers to ride the North American food safety tsunami.