In an era when food-borne illnesses make headlines and consumers clamor for more information on nutrition, the battle to become Georgia's next agriculture commissioner has taken on greater interest.
Republican Gary Black, Democrat J.B. Powell and Libertarian Kevin Cherry are in a three-way race to replace Tommy Irvin, a Democrat who has held the job since 1969.
The major-party candidates have made a quest for food safety the priority of their campaigns. The goal is not only to protect consumers from problems -- such as the 2009 salmonella outbreak linked to a peanut processing plant in south Georgia's Blakely that killed nine people -- but also to boost the state's farm economy. The price of peanuts dropped more than $100 a ton after the scare.
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