City dad wants peanut butter products tested for salmonella

CEBU, Philippines - City councilor Edgardo Labella has called on the city health department and the Bureau of Food and Drugs to conduct a coordinated product sampling of all peanut butter products being sold in markets in the city to ensure that they are not contaminated with the salmonella bacteria.

Labella made the call after learning that a certain brand of peanut butter in Manila was found with salmonella. Labella made the call through a resolution that the City Council will discuss this afternoon.

Salmonella bacteria is found in human and animal fecal waste and is frequently reported to be the cause of food-borne illnesses.

Discovered by American scientist Daniel E. Salmon, Salmonella is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacilli that can cause diarrheal illness in humans. They are microscopic living creatures that pass from the feces of people or animals to other people or other animals.

Medical research shows that a comprehensive farm-to-table approach to food safety is necessary to reduce salmonellosis. –Rene U. Borromeo/JMO (THE FREEMAN)