Peanut butter has a certain innocence to it. For all of grade school and all of high school, a peanut butter sandwich was what I had for lunch. It's still my meal of choice when I brown bag it.

The same is true for millions of people in this country, especially children. That's why it was upsetting to learn that a company allowed peanut butter products contaminated with salmonella bacteria to be shipped and distributed to the public.

We've had other serious recent recalls for salmonella contamination of items like tomatoes and spinach, but these are not consumed as widely as peanut butter.

The salmonella outbreak has sickened about 600 people and investigators believe it may be linked to nine deaths. The owner of Peanut Corp. of America, Stewart Parnell, pleaded the Fifth Wednesday before a Congressional panel. He refused to eat his recalled products when a member of the panel offered them to him.

A timeline attached to the MSNBC article reports that the salmonella outbreak began in early September, with most people sickened after Oct. 1.
By January 12, the outbreak had spread to 42 states. On Jan. 27, federal health officials reported that the Peanut Corporation of America has a history of problems, including shipping products that the company had found positive for salmonella.

I've never had salmonella poisoning, but a friend of mine has, and she told me she never felt so sick or so weak in her life - in the most literal sense, she could barely lift a finger.

E-mail records described at the House hearing showed that, in response to products that had once tested positive for salmonella, but were cleared in a second test, Parnell ordered his plant manager to "turn them lose." The general practice is to destroy food items contaminated with salmonella.

In 2009, in the United States of America, parents shouldn't have to be afraid to give their children peanut butter sandwiches.