Should I stop eating peanut butter since it it suspected in causing a salmonella outbreak?”
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS and JANE ZHANG An Ohio company recalled its creamy peanut butter after Minnesota health authorities identified the sandwich spread as the likely source of a wave of salmonella infections in the state. Minnesota investigators found that every one of the 30 people with recent salmonella infections in that state had eaten peanut butter before falling ill, and confirmed in the “overwhelming majority” of those cases that the victims had eaten King Nut brand, according to state Department of Health spokesman Doug Schultz. The Minnesota salmonella strain matches the bacteria that have sickened at least 369 people in 41 other states since early September, although Minnesota authorities haven’t connected the peanut butter to the national outbreak. Minnesota officials, who are working with the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expect further test results as early as Monday. CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell identified peanu
Federal officials are urging consumers to put off eating foods that contain peanut butter until assurances are made that the foods do not contain products manufactured by the Peanut Corp. of America, some of which were found to contain salmonella.Food and Drug Administration officials said Saturday that peanut butter and peanut paste made from ground roasted peanuts, manufactured in Peanut Corp.’s Blakely, Georgia, plant were found to contain the bacteria, although a direct link to the strain that has now sickened 474 people in 43 states has not been found. Six deaths may have been connected to this salmonella outbreak. Peanut Corp. announced an expanded recall of peanut butter and peanut paste produced from its Georgia plant Friday night. Peanut Corp. doesn’t directly supply to supermarkets, so brand-name peanut butters are not expected to be affected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, Peanut Corp. sells produce in bulk. The peanut butter is sold in
