Consumer Alert

added 01/19/09

Consumers are being advised to “postpone” eating products that may contain peanut butter or peanut paste (e.g. candies, cookies, peanut butter sandwich crackers, ice cream, etc.) until they know the products have been declared safe from contamination with Salmonella. A list of products currently known to be safe can be found below.

On January 13, the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), a peanut processing company and maker of peanut butter for bulk distribution to institutions, food service industries, and private label food companies, announced a limited recall of peanut butter produced in its Blakely, Georgia, processing plant. Packaged under the labels King Nut and Parnell’s Pride, the peanut butter had been implicated in a Salmonella outbreak involving residents of a long-term facility in Minnesota. Salmonella was found in an open container of King Nut peanut butter used in the facility.

On January 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the Salmonella recovered from the peanut butter was a genetic match to Salmonella from cases in a national Salmonella outbreak involving over 400 people in 43 states. The outbreak began on September 8, 2008 and had its most recent case documented on January 2, 2009.

As a result, PCA expanded its recall to include 21 lots of peanut butter and peanut paste produced on or after July 1, 2008 and distributed nationwide. Kellogg’s announced an unprecedented “precautionary hold” on Keebler and Famous Amos products, recognizing the possibility of contamination because they purchased peanut ingredients from PCA.

By Saturday, January 17, large and small manufacturers—-including Kellogg’s—-began announcing voluntary recalls of candy, cookies, packaged peanut butter sandwich crackers, and ice cream products made from PCA peanut butter and peanut paste. Many were private label products produced for large grocery chains.

As of Monday, January 19, clear information about the distribution of the contaminated peanut butter and peanut paste remained incomplete, and the FDA called on individual manufacturers and processors to come forward with voluntary recalls of their products if they had purchased ingredients from PCA. The FDA started a recalled product list, which is continually updated and can be found here.

At the same time, the FDA recommended that individual manufacturers identify themselves as “safe” if they know that their peanut ingredients have not come from PCA. No master list of safe products is being maintained by the FDA, and concerned consumers should go to the website of individual manufacturer or call the company with questions about specific products.

On Monday, January 19, in a conference call with its members, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) identified several peanut-containing products as “safe.” They stressed, however, that neither the FDA nor FMI is validating this information received from manufacturers.

The self-declared safe manufacturers, as of end of day on Monday, January 19, include:

  • Mars Candy (M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, and Kudos)
  • Tasty Cakes
  • Smart Balance
  • Lance Cracker Co.
  • Unilever: Slim Fast shakes and bars; Good Humor, Breyer’s, Ben and Jerry’s, and Klondike ice creams
  • Kraft
  • Nabisco
  • Planter’s Peanuts
  • Newman’s Own Organics
  • Late July Organic Snacks

Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis, and arthritis. For more information on Salmonella, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Website.

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