Disturbing headlines related to the salmonella-laced peanut butter scandal continue to raise concerns about our nation's food safety system ("Going nuts over recall of peanut butter items," Feb. 18). Consumers are worried about which products are safe to eat, purging pantries of all peanut products.

This isn't the first time tainted food has caused widespread public illness and death -- it's just the most recent. Previously, tainted jalapeños, spinach and beef caused a mad scramble to identify the suspect product and remove it from store shelves -- and as we're seeing with Gayle's Chocolates of Royal Oak, often entire product lines are scrapped because there is no way to specifically isolate the dangerous products from the safe ones, unless the product is beer.

Stories of counterfeit or tainted alcohol products injuring or even killing people around the globe are common, but fortunately we don't read these tragic headlines here in the United States.

That's because the American state-based, three-tier regulatory system of alcohol controls (comprised of brewers, distributors and retailers) works to protect consumers from unsafe products. Last year, when there was a potential defect in a specific batch of glass beer bottles, licensed beer distributors were able to quickly and efficiently pull suspect cases off the shelves of licensed retailers and quarantine the potentially-affected cases within a matter of days.

As regulators evaluate reforms to improve quality control and traceability in the American food distribution system, they don't need to look far.

The licensed alcohol beverage industry and the three-tier system of distribution is a model that has worked effectively to keep consumers safe for more than 75 years.

Craig A. Purser

President and CEO

National Beer Wholesalers Association

Alexandria, Va.