WASHINGTON – President Obama, speaking as the chief executive and a father, has promised a full review of the Food and Drug Administration amid a salmonella outbreak linked to a Georgia peanut processor.
More than 500 people have been sickened, and at least eight have died, with authorities blaming Peanut Corp. of America.
“I think that the FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to catch them,” Obama said in an interview aired yesterday on NBC’s “Today” show. “So we’re going to be doing a complete review of FDA operations.”
The president said that Americans should be able to count on the government to keep kids safe when they eat peanut butter and that that includes his 7-year- old daughter, Sasha.
“That’s what Sasha eats for lunch probably three times a week,” he said. “I don’t want to have to worry about whether she’s going to get sick as a consequence of having her lunch.”