Georgia takes up P.R. fight on behalf of peanut

Georgia lawmakers are trying to revive the peanut’s good name.

The lunch box staple didn’t used to be such a tough sell, but Georgia’s vital crop has taken a whipping since a nationwide salmonella outbreak tied to peanut products from a Blakely, Ga., plant, has sickened more than 600 people and been linked to nine deaths.

Lawmakers in the state that is the nation’s leading peanut producer are guzzling down bags of peanuts, organizing peanut butter events and offering the legumes boiled, shelled and just about any other way to all who are willing to eat them.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Tables lined with jars of peanut butter, cookies, candies, apples and peanut butter, bags of boiled peanuts — “the caviar of the South” — and buckets of shelled peanuts greeted the hundreds who wandered by the first floor of the state Capitol Tuesday.

More than 2,000 peanut products have been recalled, and consumers are shying away from those that haven’t been pulled from the shelves. Although the company that runs the plant, Peanut Corp. of America, handles no more than 2.5 percent of all peanuts processed, sales of jarred peanut butter plummeted 22 percent nationwide for the four weeks ending Jan. 24.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

“This is to convince the public — the best way we know how — that peanuts are safe,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, licking the remnants of a peanut snack off his lips. “There are some skeptics out there that don’t know this is the result of one bad player.”

Georgia takes special stock in its favored crop. Its most famous politician, Jimmy Carter, was a peanut farmer, and the industry employs 50,000 people and packs an estimated economic impact of $2.5 billion — more than double that of the next leading state, Texas.

“We’ve got to stand behind our products,” said state Sen. John Bulloch, a farmer himself who is backing stricter food testing requirements. “We want consumers to know we’re trying to do what we can to put in checks and balances to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”