The Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was a peanut-processing business and supplied peanuts, peanut butter, peanut paste etc to schools, nursing homes and food processors. PCA filled for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in February 2009 after it was found to be the source of a massive salmonella outbreak in the US during 2008 and 2009. The salmonella outbreak claimed 8 lives, sickened nearly 1,000 people and triggered massive product recalls involving at least 361 companies and 3,913 different products. Not only PCA’s profit was affected but also the sales of other peanut butter brands were driven down by nearly 25%.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) accused the plant of repeatedly shipping peanut butter and other products right after the discovery of salmonella. PCA, for example, shipped product after waiting for a second test to clear peanut butter that initially tested positive for salmonella. In this case we are dealing with ethics in production and PCA was clearly acting morally wrong. The company had a duty to ensure that its products and production processes did not cause harm and they violated this prescription. There is usually a degree of danger in any product or production process but PCA definitely overstepped the degree of permissibility. We are dealing with a Problem of Moral Motivation (PMM) here since PCA knew what they did was wrong, however, they could not stand the idea of destroying their product and decreasing their profit. In this situation the economic and moral discourse do not overlap, which makes morality visible.
In my opinion it is unacceptable and morally wrong for corporations to put consumers’ health at risk, no matter what amount of money is involved.
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I agree with the author. It is clear that PCA knowingly shipped products that could (and did, in some cases) potentially kill the unfortunate people who chose to consume the product. If the decision-makers at PCA had considered the problem from a utilitarian perspective, they would have seen and realized that the utility of making short-term profit could never outweigh the utility of the many people that became ill and the discomfort that retailers experienced after unknowingly selling them a potentially dangerous product. PCA acted purely out of self-interest, with obviously disastrous consequences. Like the author states, I believe that a company cannot justify putting their consumers' health at risk and this is exactly what PCA did.
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