Peanut Butter Update

I don't know about you, but I was having peanut butter withdrawal this week! My kids were begging for it. So I looked at the FDA website and my son's favorite-Creamy Jif-still hasn't been recalled. We ate some this week and didn't get sick. I was so worried. I know they are saying just a few generic brands of jarred peanut were impacted with the salmonella recall, but it still makes me nervous! How about you? Has anyone else given into peanut butter cravings or did you never give up P.B. & J. in the first place?

King Nut Companies peanut butter in a jar is the only jar I saw listed on the FDA website. I know Meijer pulled its generic peanut butter too. Here's the link to the full list of over 1,000 recalled peanut products!

Oh-and I just have to say when the networks show video of peanut butter sandwiches and then talk about the recall, it makes it look like jars of peanut butter are recalled. Duh! It is so aggravating when that comes down on the news feeds. It makes no sense!

FROM ABC: The salmonella outbreak caused by tainted peanut butter continues to make waves countrywide. The outbreak has forced one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history-- and even President Obama has criticized the FDA over food safety. Today, salmonella victims added their voices to the call for reform.

After Shirley Mae Almer was diagnosed with cancer, she survived. But relatives say the 72 year old had no idea an afternoon snack could be just as deadly. Jeff Almer said, "lost mother to salmonella. Cancer couldn't claim her but peanut butter did."

Lawmakers are trying to put controls in place to ensure peanut butter never proves fatal again. Rep. Rosa Delauro (D) CT "The push for change could not be more urgent." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says peanut butter contaminated by a salmonella strain may have contributed to eight deaths nationwide. More than 500 people in 43 states have been sickened by the outbreak since September.

Two months after becoming extremely ill, Gabrielle Meunier's 7-year-old son , Christopher is still recovering. Gabielle Meunier said, "It was hell. He was in so much pain he wanted to die." From spinach to beef. Tomatoes to peanut butter, year after year, the list of recalls continues to grow. The latest salmonella outbreak has been tied to the Peanut Corporation of America and its Blakely, Georgia plant. A criminal investigation is now underway to determine whether the producer knowingly sold a dangerous contaminated product.

Rep. Rosa Delauro said, "It represents the full-scale breakdown of a patchwork food safety system." The new food safety reform legislation would take the responsibility for food safety out of the hands of the FDA and make it a separate division within the Department of Health and Human Services. The new agency would have more power to order food recalls and penalize culpable food distributors.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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