Todd Staples Campaigning On Food Safety…Really?

On his campaign website, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples is touting all of his hard work on food safety as a reason that Texans would want to re-elect him:

During his first term, Staples has met in-person with Texas families across the Lone Star State in pursuit of fulfilling his promise to visit all 254 counties. His first term focus has been on connectivity between rural and urban/suburban communities, promoting the state’s agriculture/livestock economies, public food safety, school nutrition programs, rural Texas jobs, and fairly enforcing the state’s weights and measures laws including calibration of gas station pumps.

Really? His first term was focused on (among other things) food safety? Wow. I must have missed that. Let’s take a look at Staples’ record on food safety.

Going back to 2006 and Staples initial run for Agriculture Commissioner, he was touting food safety as part of his platform. He mentioned that, along with “improving the lives of all Texans” in his 2007 inaugural address, too:

Pledging to “fight tirelessly to improve the lives of Texans,” Staples addressed the crowd of supporters, lawmakers and other elected officials for eight minutes, giving thanks to God, his parents and wife, Janet, and other family members.

Staples said the theme of his four-year term will be “Partners in Progress,” pointing out the impact that agriculture has on the state economy and in other areas.

The new ag commissioner said the food, horticulture and fiber industries collectively generate approximately $73 billion a year for the state’s economy or approximately 10 percent of Texas’ total gross state product.

“This is why I will help Texans market Texas products throughout the state, across the nation and around the globe,” Staples said. “Because people around the world deserve to experience the quality of product Texas has to offer. We want everyone to have the opportunity to Go Texan.”

Protection of private property rights, developing new water resources, renewable energy, recreational tourism and food safety and security were some of the other issues touched on by Staples during his comments.

Okay, it is report card time. How well did Staples do on the food safety campaign promise? He gets an “F,” although a “D” (f0r “diarrhea,” “dysentery,” and “disease”) might be more appropriate.

First, there was the tomato salmonella outbreak:

State health officials’ search for the source of tainted tomatoes thought responsible for a salmonella outbreak focused on Harris County on Wednesday, as medical workers reported that three more local cases of the potentially fatal food poisoning had been confirmed.

By late Wednesday, the county total stood at 15. Single cases were reported in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. Statewide, the total jumped to 35 on Thursday.

Then, there was the jalapeno salmonella outbreak:

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Monday that a sample of jalapeno pepper from a food distribution centre in McAllen, Texas, was a genetic match to the strain of Salmonella Saintpaul strain behind the current outbreak of Salmonella that has so far infected over 1,200 people nationwide.

And more toxic peppers:

The Texas plant, Agricola Zaragoza, has suspended sales of fresh jalapenos and recalled those shipped since June 30 — shipments it said were made to Georgia and Texas.

Those incidents were more than a year after Staples took office. What did Staples do about it? Nothing much.

Less than a year later, the agriculture products scare of the decade centered on Texas:

Tests show products at a Peanut Corporation of America subsidiary in Texas may be tainted with salmonella, state health authorities said on Tuesday.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said on Tuesday it requested that the plant be closed after the company reported the findings of a private lab.

Doug McBride, a health services spokesman, said the positive samples were taken last week and the private company’s lab results came back on Monday. State test results were expected to come back on Tuesday.

The company voluntarily closed its Plainview, Texas, plant on Monday night “after laboratory tests of sample products from the plant indicated the possible presence of salmonella in some products,” state health officials said.

And, the Texas Department of Agriculture was right in the middle of that controversy. Staples’ DOA certified the plant for its organic registry but didn’t bother to alert the Texas Department of Health that the facility was operating without proper permits or inspection:

The Texas plant had not been inspected for four years before last month. State officials blamed the plant for failing to register, but the plant had registered with the state’s organic certification program at the Texas Department of Agriculture. State officials could not explain Tuesday why the organic registry failed to alert health officials that the plant processed food and needed to be inspected.

Staples was running a fleet of inspectors that were evidently asleep at the wheel:

The Associated Press reported a Texas agriculture inspector, Gaylon Amonett, failed to disclose the local Peanut Corp. of America plant was operating without a state health department license despite at least three visits in the years before hundreds of people got sick.

The inspector responsible for certifying the plant to process organic products noted after each visit that the plant had such a license when it didn’t. Problems at the plant might have been flagged years ago had the inspector, who has since been fired, reported the plant’s failure to obtain the required license.

When the plant was finally inspected earlier this year, Texas health officials found dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in a crawl space above a production area, leading them to order a recall of all products the plant had shipped since 2005.

When did Staples finally do something? Only in the heat of the media firestorm over the Plainview peanut salmonella outbreak:

Two state agencies are joining forces to combat the devastating disruptions that occur when the food safety of farm products is called into question, according to a vegetable specialist with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

The Texas Department of Agriculture and AgriLife Extension are creating a program to help fruit and vegetable growers develop safety procedures that could help prevent food scares, said Dr. Juan Anciso.

“When edible farm products are linked to possible outbreaks of E. coli or Salmonella, the economic ripple is huge and many people suffer – consumers, farmers, packers, shippers, grocers, advertisers, lots of people,” Anciso said.

“[T]he economic ripple is huge and many people suffer…” Yep. But, it took three outbreaks–one very major–before Staples did anything. Even then, it was only a $92,000 “something:”

Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples announced recently that the Texas Department of Agriculture had allocated $92,000 to create the Food Safety Good Agricultural Practices Program, to be implemented under the guidance of AgriLife Extension.

$92,000 seems a bit of a band-aid given the circumstanes. As for Staples commitment to food safety, this photo from his Flickr album (with our comments added) makes one wonder just how committed he is:

That’s a definite FAIL.

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