If a Hollywood screenwriter was shopping around a script called “Eating Dangerously in America,” you might associate it with a new reality TV show. Sadly, however, that title can be used to illustrate a new reality for many businesses feeling the effects of the massive international recall of peanuts last year.

The result was one of the largest food recalls this country has ever experienced–prompted by the discovery of salmonella linked to products from Peanut Corp. of America. Those peanuts are alleged to have sickened more than 690 people in 46 states, killed nine, and resulted in the recall of nearly 3,900 peanut products.

While the enormity of this recall is striking in terms of the widespread effect it had on people and businesses, even more so is the fact that PCA supplied a mere 1 percent of the nation's peanut products. Conservative estimates place recall costs for the food industry at well over $1 billion.

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