Some Good Follow Up On The Peanut Crises

With every tragedy, there is hope that we learn and fix what it was that caused the problem to begin with. One of the main goals of the civil justice system is to deal with problems unlike the gun fights of the old west. A system to fix what was broken, replace what was lost, and to place back in balance what was knocked out of balance. That is JUSTICE.

The deaths and sickness that arose out of the salmonella outbreak from peanuts is still with us. But, it is a ray of hope to see some good come out of it.

• Plainview Peanut Corp. LLC was fined $14.6 million for it’s part in the poisoning.
• Georgia is looking at where they failed in the regulation of the problem.
• Other companies learned from the way the peanut companies didn’t.
• New laws are being looked at across the nation concerning the reporting of problems and the need to protect consumers.
• The Obama administration is looking out for the consumers and not just the businesses.

We still have a long way to go. Hopefully, the criminal prosecutions and civil trials ahead will give the individual parties the justice they deserve. But, it is a time to learn and make sure this is the last great food tragedy.