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FROM ABC: A national recall of peanut butter is growing-- along with fears of the salmonella contamination that began it. The Federal Government is now urging us to avoid all products containing peanut butter -- as it tries to track down the tainted amounts.
She has battled cancer and seemed to be winning. But on December 21st, 72-year old Shirley Almer died suddenly at her Minnesota nursing home where her family believes she ate the contaminated peanut butter they blame for her death. Ginger Lorentz victim's daughter said, "Confused. Angry. It shouldn't have happened. It just shouldn't have happened." Almer's death is one of at least 6 that may be connected to the salmonella outbreak associated with peanut butter products and hundreds more have been sickened.
Dr. William Schaffner from Vanderbilt Medical Center: "Doing the laboratory work and then doing the study that implicating the peanut butter, that takes a lot of time and effort. it's much more difficult than it appears at first glance."
Food and Drug Administration investigators believe the contamination can be traced back to this Blakely Georgia plant.. owned by the Peanut Corporation of America, but no definitive link to the salmonella outbreak has been established and the scope of the investigation is widening-- prompting FDA officials to ask consumers to avoid eating anything that contains peanut butter.
Caroline Smith Dewaal Center for Science in the Public Interest said, "Given the size of the outbreak and severity of the illnesses, it's critically important that the government move as fast as it can to really nail down the food source." Several companies, including Little Debbie and Famous Amos, have already voluntarily recalled all of their products made with peanut butter that might be linked to the company.
Kellogg has pulled 16 different products from store shelves. Relatives of Shirley Almer recently filed a lawsuit against the Peanut Corporation of America who made the peanut butter she ate.
The Kellogg's company announced today that FDA tests have discovered salmonella in the Austin quality foods toasty crackers with peanut butter, a vending machine staple. Kellogg's had already recalled the product. Kellogg's says its disappointed and regrets the situation.
Major Bummer! We eat peanut butter toast every morning! And peanut butter and jelly sandwiches--oh-- we eat that at least three times a week!
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
4 comments:
Slow down there Jen. From the FDA Recall website:
"... At this time, there is no indication that any national name brand jars of peanut butter sold in retail stores are linked to the PCA recall.... "
That's true Gary, but the FDA is still recommending NOT eating it for now until they figure out exactly what's happening. It's their own recommendation. I would think if you have a jar of peanut butter at home and you have been eating it without any trouble, continue. But you might want to wait until this thing is cleared up before going to the store and getting a new jar. That's just my take on this. Why chance it? Last week the FDA was saying the only problem is with the peanut butter crackers. They can change their minds pretty fast.
Yeah-- we'll eat the opened jar at my home of organic pb, but I'm still going to wait to open another jar... I'm not willing to risk it!
This is pretty scary stuff. I mean, look what happened to our green leafy veggies when we had the E-coli outbreaks....all the food is now irradiated! I wonder what the FDA will do to ensure all of our peanuts and peanut butter are stipped of any nutritional value after this :(
I think it's propaganda and fear mongering to implement more control over the food in this country.
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