Peanut butter was blamed for the recent Salmonella outbreak across the country, causing some people to think twice before purchasing certain food products. At VCU, however, the national outbreak created little discussion among students.
Salmonella is a bacterium that can cause humans and animals to become ill. Common symptoms in humans include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. Salmonella usually is spread through food that has come in contact with animal or human feces, or meats that have not been cooked to the proper temperature.
Junior pre-nursing major Kelly Jenkins said the government is overreacting because Salmonella only gives diarrhea to non-immunosuppressed people.
As a worker in the food industry, the outbreak affected Jenkins’s job directly.
“It’s made work awful because I work at Food Lion,” said Jenkins, adding that the grocery store employees were required to take down all Peter Pan products and to refund customers returning Peter Pan products.
Junior Anna Bryant said the outbreak didn’t affect her consumer habits.
“I didn’t really think about it the other day when I was at the grocery store and I got peanut butter,” Bryant said. “So I guess it didn’t affect my food buying at all.”
Dental hygiene sophomore Christina Ammons said the outbreak shouldn’t be a government problem.
“I don’t really think that it should be up to the government. If people who were affected want to sue the company, then they should,” Ammons said. “But things like this happen all the time, and most of the time it is one simple mistake that can easily be corrected.”
The United States ranks number four in the world for human deaths caused by salmonella poisoning, with 28 deaths in 2003, according to a Web report on NationMaster.com.
For more information on Salmonella and other food-borne illness, visit the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov.