In the not quite three months since he took office, Barack Obama has had a daunting array of issues with which to concern himself – but one the US president may have least expected was peanut butter.
“When I heard peanut products were being contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my seven-year-old daughter Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably three times a week,” he told the nation in one of his weekly addresses from the White House. “No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch.”
Citing the “troubling trend” that had seen the average number of disease outbreaks due to food contamination rise to some 350 a year, up from just 100 or so in the early 1990s, Mr Obama announced he was setting up a working group on food safety made up of cabinet secretaries and senior officials. He also promised to overhaul America's “underfunded and understaffed” Food and Drug Administration.