Tainted peanut butter showing up in unexpected places

January 17, 6:07 PMFood ExaminerEric Burkett

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Update:
Two new updates in the Salmonella outbreak, thanks to Mary Siceloff who handles media relations for Marler Clark law firm in Seattle.

• People urged to avoid peanut butter products
• The Great Salmonella Peanut Butter Crash of 2009

The peanut butter recall continues to grow as more evidence traces the Salmonella Typhimirium outbreak to a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga., and potentially contaminated product is showing up in states where it is, supposedly, not distributed.

Friday, Peanut Corporation of America expanded its recall of peanut butter and peanut paste produced at its Blakely facility.

“...the FDA informed PCA that new product samples in unopened containers tested positive for Salmonella,” said Stewart Parnell, PCA president, in a release. Peanut Corp,, headquartered in Lynchburg, Va., has stopped production at its Blakely plant as the investigation continues.

Meanwhile, officials at the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection announced they had “confirmed the presence of Salmonella bacteria” in an unopened 5-pound container of King Nut peanut butter at City Line, a food distributor in West Haven. All King Nut peanut butter is manufactured by PCA and King Nut issued a recall of its product last week. Neither the FDA nor PCA have issued any statements as to whether their “new product samples” are actually from the unopened container found in Connecticut, and King Nut has not made any statements at all as of this writing.

Earlier in the week, however, King Nut had stated that its peanut butter had a very small distribution.

“We only distribute in seven states,” said Martin Kanan, president and CEO of King Nut, in a release, “and therefore King Nut peanut butter could not possibly be the source of a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella.”

King Nut distributes to Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho and New Hampshire, the release stated. However, the Connecticut DCP said that King Nut peanut butter had been distributed to Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. King Nut is not sold in retail stores, but is distributed to institutions such as long-term care facilities and institutional cafeterias.

On Wednesday, Kellogg’s Company announced it was placing a voluntary hold on several of its Austin and Keebler brand snack foods which contain peanut paste manufactured by Peanut Corp. As of yesterday, there had been no reported illnesses linked to Kellogg’s products, but Kellogg's also added Famous Amos cookies to its list of brands on hold. The company has urged consumers not to use any of the identified products until an investigation could determine whether they might be contaminated.