Boiled peanuts don't kill people; improper cooling, packaging, handling and distribution practices kill people

The good folks in Blakely, Georgia, home of a Peanut Corp. of America plant, are struggling mightily to stay Peanut Proud (photo courtesy ajc.com). We've been quiet about the salmonella scare that has crippled the peanut industry. But we've secretly allowed ourselves to get a little too smug and superior about it. After all, peanuts might contain salmonella, but boiling definitely kills it. So we can snack on, right?

We weren't surprised that Peanut Corp. was victimized by this confounded rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria. But we were taken aback to learn about the outbreak in Pumpkintown, South Carolina. About two dozen Pumkin-Festival-goers who indulged in the official S.C. state snack food that mid-October day in 2006 fell ill. Let's turn to Craig Beatty of Carolinas CW to make this sordid affair a learning opportunity:

While the boiling process kills most forms of bacteria, including salmonella, Myrick says that prepared foods can become contaminated after the cooking process during cooling, packaging, handling and distribution. Myrick couldn't say how the contamination happened in this case.

But we can end on a positive note courtesy of the AP via the Salmonella Lawyer:

"We never heard of salmonella in boiled peanuts before. It appears to be an isolated, very unusual event," Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Adam Myrick said.

Actually, let's end with a call to action. Boiled peanuts are a privilege, not a right. Fight the bacteria!