Peanut Butter Product Recalls Mount

Peanut Butter Product Recalls Mount More companies pull products from shelves as FDA advises consumers to eat peanut butter only from jars while salmonella probe continues. By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter

More companies pull products from shelves as FDA advises consumers not to eat anything but jars of peanut butter while salmonella probe continues.

MONDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News)-The drum roll for recalls of peanut butter products continued without letup, as more companies removed from store shelves everything from cookies to Valentine's Day candies to ice cream.
The actions followed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration statement Saturday which warned consumers to avoid products containing peanut butter or peanut butter paste while the salmonella outbreak probe continued.
The U.S. health warning is focused on products made with peanut butter, like crackers, not jars of peanut butter on store shelves, the agency said.
"We are urging people not to eat products that have peanut butter until we have better information, and they can make an informed choice," Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said at a Saturday teleconference, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The official toll from the outbreak across 43 states and Canada now stands at 470 people sickened, with six deaths that have been linked.
According to reports, Girl Scout cookies that contain peanut butter are not affected by the recall.
As of Monday morning, these are the latest recalls:

Late Friday, cereal giant Kellogg recalled 16 products containing peanut butter, including Keebler cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers and Keebler and Famous Amos peanut butter cookies.
Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products Inc. is recalling all Wal-Mart Bakery brands of peanut butter cookies, peanut butter no-bake cookies, and peanut butter fudge no-bake cookies. It is also recalling its nationally distributed Lofthouse brand versions of those cookies as well as Parco Foods' Chuck's Chunky brand of peanut butter cookies and Pastries Plus gourmet cookies.
The South Bend Chocolate Co., of South Bend, Ind., is recalling assorted chocolates, valentine hearts, peanut butter fudge and peanut butter chocolate fudge.
Meijer Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., is pulling back two types of crackers and two varieties of ice cream sold in five states at its stores and at gas stations.
General Mills of Minneapolis is recalling two flavors of snack bars: Larabar Peanut Butter Cookie snack bars, distributed nationally, and JamFrakas Peanut Butter Blisscrisp snack bars.
Food Lion, of Salisbury, N.C., with stores in the southeast and mid-Atlantic states, has removed Bake Shop peanut butter cookies from its shelves.
McKee Foods Corp. of Collegedale, Tenn., recalled Little Debbie Peanut Butter Toasty and Peanut Butter Cheese Sandwich Crackers.
Hy-Vee Inc., of Des Moines, which distributes in several states in the Midwest, recalled various bakery products containing peanut butter.
And Perry's Ice Cream, of Buffalo, N.Y., announced a voluntary recall of select ice cream products containing peanut butter sauce, which were distributed in five states.

The recalls followed a request late last week from the FDA for salmonella testing by food companies that may have bought peanut butter or peanut paste from a Georgia facility owned by the Peanut Corp. of America.
Federal health officials had traced one source of salmonella contamination to the plant, which makes peanut butter products for large institutions, and peanut butter paste used by food manufacturers in everything from cookies and crackers to cereal and ice cream.
At least 85 companies had reportedly purchased peanut products from the Georgia plant, and 30 had been "urged" to run their own tests for the bacteria, the Associated Press reported.
It's still not clear whether the salmonella that was found at the plant is the cause of the massive outbreak, health officials said Friday, but testing continues.
The concern mainly is about peanut paste, since it is used in dozens of products, from baked goods to cooking sauces. Initially, federal and state investigators had focused on bulk containers of peanut butter sold to institutions such as nursing homes, but not to supermarkets, the AP said.
"Now it turns out, it's not just institutions," said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union.
The strain of salmonella involved with the outbreak has been identified as Salmonella Typhimurium, the most common of the more than 2,500 types of salmonella bacteria in the United States. It's often found in uncooked eggs and meats, officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The recalls come two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which had been linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.
On Sunday, ConAgra issued a notice that none of its products were at risk this time because the company does not buy from Peanut Corp. of America.
More information
To learn more about salmonella, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Find More About Nutrition and Food Safety on MSN Health & Fitness:

SOURCE: Jan. 16, 2009, teleconference with Stephen Sundlof, D.V.M., director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Jan. 14, 2009, news release, Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich.; Jan. 12, 2009, news release, Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Agriculture; Jan. 12, 2009, news release, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jan 10, 2009, online statement, Peanut Corp. of America; Associated Press; Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Comments: 19

tammie p. Jan 20, 2009, 9:59am UTC

i still an not giving up my peanut butter ice cream. thank you for sharing

Peanut Butter Product Recalls Mount

Comments: 19

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