No Ifs, Ands, or Nuts

Umbra on composting tainted food 7

Dear Umbra,

This tainted peanut butter recall is crazy. I have a box of crackers with peanut butter. Can I safely compost them in my hot compost pile?

Jane
Vallejo, Calif.

Dearest Jane,

Let me first say I am very sad for those who have been killed in this outbreak. My deepest sympathies to their families. There’s no reason anyone should be killed by food in these modern times. It’s outrageous.

Put the cracker down and slowly back away.

As of this writing, the Salmonella typhimurium was traced to the Peanut Corporation of America, of course in Georgia, which mainly sells peanut butter and paste for use in processed foods. My favorite recalled food is “Herd of Laughter Tin Can Alley Ice Cream.” No one’s laughing now, obviously. The FDA has made their Peanut Corp. inspection report public [PDF]. Interpretation by yours truly and others indicates that the PCA did not have procedures for ensuring sufficient, pathogen-killing roasting of the raw peanuts, and did not adequately clean equipment after previous positive tests for salmonella. The rest of the report details various dirty parts of the plant (“the ... rollers of this conveyor were covered with a slimy, black-brown residue,” “on 1/9/09 a live roach and several dead roaches were observed ...”), as well as poor equipment layout and product storage. The origin of the salmonella is not clear from FDA or CDC materials.

Remember our raw milk discussion a few weeks ago? I’m an advice columnist, and it’s feasible that people might follow my advice. Hence, in matters of potential life and death, it is my job to offer conservative suggestion served on a bed of concerns. Salmonella can give you diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps, and can of course cause death. It also can lead to Reiter’s syndrome—pain in the joints, pain whilst urinating, irritated eyes—which can then lead to arthritis. Obviously one should not eat recalled products, and vendors should follow the FDA suggestion to “stop selling recalled products” (ah—thanks, was wondering).

Treat your tainted peanut products as you would treat unwanted raw chicken bits. If you are fortunate enough to have a recalled product in hand rather than in GI tract, throw it away without opening it. Wash your hands carefully if you had to touch salmonelly foods, keep such foods away from children and the elderly, etc.

I wouldn’t compost infected products unless you already run a composting system that is capable of handling dead animals and manure. And even then I’d think twice or thrice: The danger, remote as it may be, is that the salmonella will stay alive in your compost and wend its way back to your mouth via garden vegetables or soil handling.

All that said, technically you may compost pathogen-tainted foods, including meats, eggs, and manure, if your compost reaches and maintains a temperature of 135 degrees for several days. This is not something to guess about. If you have such a pile, you are a serious composter who knows it. The rest of you, don’t mess around.

Salmonella aside, peanut butter is not a recommended compost material. Oily, greasy foods like peanut butter, regular butter, and cooking oils take a while to break down in a pile. Again, if you’re a serious, hot pile-making composter, I do think the grease rule can be ignored, but if you’re a casual composter annoyed about pools of rancid oil in your lovely compost, eschew slimy stuff.

Pathogenically,
Umbra

 

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Send your green-living questions to Umbra.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

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  1. RuthSmith Posted 1:44 pm
    08 Feb 2009

    The Peanut ControversyIn response to whether one should compost tainted peanut butter...depending on your compost set up, you should also worry about potential  animals getting into your pile and becoming sick from the peanut butter foods. While I don't advocate being wasteful or throwing things away, this is one thing that "should" be thrown away. Why take the chance?
    As an aside, I am saddened by the recent deaths due to this issue-however as the parent of a young child with life threatening food allergies I hope that others will make the link about how the food allergic can also die from foods easily and must avoid such allergens like peanuts and peanut butter and how difficult that can be.

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  2. Ariana Posted 4:53 pm
    08 Feb 2009

    Remember why it's crazyAs environmentalists and opponents of the carbon-, soil-, water-, and health-hungry industrial agriculture system, I think it's important that beyond wrinkling our noses and gingerly disposing of tainted food products, we take a moment to to reflect on just how "crazy" this recall really is. Tom Philpott did a decent job of addressing the wider implications of the recall, but I'm missing that perspective in this article.
    I mean, all of the peanuts in all of those products were processed in one single plant! It boggles the mind to think of all the resources that went into transporting those nuts to and from the plant, or all of the resources required to grow all those identical peanuts at that scale.
    More than grossing us out at the thought of cockroaches in our crackers, this recall should be waking up concern about our missing local food-staple growing and processing infrastructure. Let's start talking about taking back our food system!

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  3. RuthSmith Posted 11:34 pm
    08 Feb 2009

    Yes-this is a wake up call about processed foodsAriana, good point-I agree. As someone who rarely buys processed foods I think this should give others pause. Hopefully more individuals look to CSA's or growing their own food. Sadly, I think it takes more than this for some to change their ways.

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  4. Janlcg Posted 6:34 am
    09 Feb 2009

    Jane from VallejoDear Umbra,

    Not to worry, Jane IS a serious composter; she has been training the rest of us in the community for many years without a lot of fanfare, credit or monetary remuneration.  
    So thanks Jan and Umbra for all your good work.  

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  5. mskellyann's avatar

    mskellyann Posted 2:09 am
    10 Feb 2009

    Dear Umbra,We understand your position as advice-columnist.  What some of us were upset about (re: the raw milk letter) was your ignoring the risks inherent in big-dairy operations and your tone when discussing pro-raw milk folks.  The comment about their "zealotry" was unnecessary.  One can protect oneself legally without necessarily kicking a group that's already down.

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  6. Storm Dragon Posted 5:14 am
    12 Feb 2009

    I was wondering...After hearing that cookies and crackers were among the items being recalled, my sister and I were wondering: Shouldn't any pathogenic bacteria in these foods have been killed by the baking process?  Or is there something else happening here?

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  7. xjm Posted 12:53 am
    14 Feb 2009

    not necessarilyI believe the peanut butter is often added after the product is baked; for example, in sandwich cookies, the cookies are baked first and then a machine adds the peanut butter filling to the middle.

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