Funk vs. Higgins: Peter Pan Salmonella Recall

Peter Pan is very well known and popular peanut butter brand on the shelves in grocery stores. Recently an issue escalated that broke headlines and became a huge set back within the company, ConAgra. It was claimed that Salmonella sickened almost 300 people nationwide. Salmonella is a bacteria that’s is related with your intestines and usually is associated with food poisoning. The Washington Post article, “Peanut Butter Recalled Over Salmonella” by Josh Funk, provides the reader with a detailed article about the controversy and brings outsiders in and allows the reader to have a voiced opinion. On the other hand, the article “Salmonella linked to Peter Pan, Great Value Peanut Butter” by Steve Higgins addresses the reader a little different way. He uses a more stern approach and goes straight into the issue. He does not get the outsiders opinion and really only tells you the issue within the company using his own opinion and statements. Funk’s article seems more appealing because he has an open-minded about allows the reader to see two perspective of the story, where as, Higgins article is more close-minded and only provides the reader with one view point on the article. In the opening part of Funk’s article “Peanut Butter Recalled Over Salmonella” he does a fantastic job of making the article appeal to the audience and tells the reader the severity of the issue. Funk starts off by directly telling you what to do if salmonella has effected you. He states “Lids of jars with a product code beginning with “2111” can be returned to ConAgra for a refund, the company said,” (Funk). He then proceeds to talk about the outbreak and how many it sickened. It starts by saying “The outbreak has sickened 288 people in 39 states since August,” (Funk). When addressing these two issues, Funk seems to be very firm on the issue and slams the company for what is at fault. He makes it seem like ConAgra did not test the lines of peanut butter. Funk gets his point across in professional way, using knowledgeable information and allowing others to put their input and addressing all sides of the controversy. Steve Higgins, author of “Salmonella linked to Peter Pan, Great Value peanut butter”, starts off his article in a more friendly way. It almost seems as if he is talking to you as a friend. His opening line says, “If your favorite peanut butter brand is Peter Pan or Great Value, check your kitchen shelves—a salmonella outbreak linked to those two brands have sickened 288 people in 38 states,” (Higgins). He states the issue and the severity of it just as Funk does, but Higgins comes across as a more friendly person and warns us of the issue rather than starting rough and straightforward. Higgins opening argument seems more appealing and realistic, but I do not know if this is the best approach because he only voices his opinion. In Funk’s article he does a great job when using pathos. Funk’s attitude from the beginning made him seem a little bit mad or aroused about this subject. Funk goes into detail and really brings out emotions from outsiders. He spoke with spokesman, Chris Kircher, from ConAgra and he states “ Its own tests of its peanut butter and the plant have been negative, but it shut down the plan so it can investigate…We’re trying to understand what else we need to do or should be doing…We want to do what’s right for the consumer,” (Funk). By using these quotes from the spokesman of the company allows the reader to feel the emotion and concern of the company. It shows the company is doing what it can to help better the problem and fix the issues that are within ConAgra Company. Higgins article, “Salmonella linked to peanut butter”, uses a different approach when getting to his reader. He stays away from emotions and leans more towards logos. Higgins starts off his argument with a statistic by stating “About 20 percent of those sickened were hospitalized, and there have been no deaths…about 85 percent of the infected people said they ate the peanut butter,” (Higgins). Higgins sticks to the main points and lays out the argument using no emotion. He does not allow the outsiders to speak much about the issue. Higgins seems very headstrong about the controversy and never offers ConAgra any justice over this outbreak. Higgins gets his point across, but by using this technique it looks bad on the company and it shows as if he is talking down on the company in a diminishing way. In Funk’s article, not only did he use pathos in a persuading way, but also everything he is saying makes sense and he delivers in a way that does not make ConAgra look bad. When talking about the controversy, Spokesman Kircher states “ ConAgra randomly tests 60 to 80 jars of peanut butter that come off the line each day for salmonella and other pathogens…We’ve had no positive hits on that going back for years,” (Funk). When stating this Funk, makes a convincing argument and I find myself siding with his side of the story. When using quotes from the spokesman of the company it shows that ConAgra is not at fault. Funk then states “The plant itself is also tested regularly tested…None of those tests have detected salmonella either,” (Funk). ConAgra may have all these things figured out and have tested their lines of peanut butter, but I hope this is a problem they can fix for the sake of all people-especially those who eat Peter Pan peanut butter. Funk sees the struggle within the company, but he addresses the issue so we can see both sides of the situation. Funk is very persuasive and I find myself agreeing more with his article than Higgins. In Higgins article, I found that he did well getting his point across, but I do not know if he picked the right statements to back up his side. He spoke with the spokeswoman of Shaw’s supermarket, Judy Chong, she states “Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. removed all Peter Pan products Thursday morning…We didn’t want to take any chances,” (Funk). Then in the next line he speaks with spokesman of Stop and Shop, Robert Keane, and he states, “We took them all down. We think it’s a necessary precaution,” (Funk). When giving the opinions of theses two people it seems as if no one ever questioned the issue or saw it as a simple mistake. Everyone reacted immediately for the sake of society, but by using this evidence it shows that ConAngra is slacking at their job and not keeping their products safe and editable. Higgins is giving accurate information, but he is only providing information from the storeowner’s standpoint. Spokesman of ConAngra, Chris Kircher, is shown up in Higgins article, but he does not give any justice to Kircher or ConAgra. I feel like this article potentially hurt the company and made them look bad. Higgins article did not seem very convincing and reliable in my opinion.
Both articles made some convincing points, however, I found myself more engaged and involved in Funk’s article rather than Higgins article. Funk style of writing allows both sides of the story to give their opinion and provides the reader with quotes and evidence from ConAgra’s spokesman. In the closing of Funk’s article he leaves the reader with something to think about. He states, “Shares of ConAgra stock rose 13 cents to $25.98 in the morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange,” (Funk). I feel like this is a good way for him to end his argument because it shows what this simple issue within a company can do to its prices and products. In the closing of the article, states symptoms for people that have been effected by salmonella and I think by doing this it shows that he is concerned and is wanting people to know about the issue. It was definitely a drawback for ConAgra, but I believe Peter Pan peanut butter will always be popular and everyone will continue to buy it.
I found both articles to be very convincing, but I found myself agreeing with Funk’s argument more. He starts out with a strong argument and lets you know right away what the salmonella recall is all about. I found that Higgins, did not like what happened with ConAngra and he tries to make the company look as if they did not have things in control and were not managing the company the right way. Throughout Higgins article, he put the entire blame on ConAgra and never addresses certain issues of how the problem was going to be fixed. Funk talks to the reader and lays out the issues and people’s opinion, when Higgins only really sticks to one side and find evidence to back up his opinion. Funk presents his article well and shows that we all should not be pointing fingers at ConAgra right away, but taking everything into consideration and coming up with a conclusion for why this salmonella outbreak occurred.

Works Cited

Funk, Josh. “Peanut Butter Recalled Over Salmonella.” The Washington post (2007): Web. 22 Sep. 2011

Higgins, Steve. “Salmonella linked to Peter Pan, Great Value peanut butter.” New Haven Register (2007) Ebsco Host. Web. 22 Sep. 2011