Salmonella Warning in US Peanut Butter

[Larry_OHF]

Quoted from the Article:

ConAgra said it is recalling all Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter beginning with product code 2111.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/14....ap/index.html

[ 02-15-2007, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[robertthebard]

Ok, stupid question of the day award:
If there are 40,000 cases annually, how are these 600 cases being called an outbreak?

From the article:

Salmonella infection is known each year to sicken about 40,000 people in the United States, according to the CDC. Salmonellosis, as the infection is known, kills about 600 people annually.

It hasn't even reached the posted number of people killed each year by the disease. What separates these cases out?

[Bithron]

Probably a typo...

[Ziroc]

lol, I just checked our Peter Pan, and BOTH jars have the 2111 batch number!!

Both are half empty.. Hell, I made some butterscotch/peanutbutter/marshmellow/chinese noodle cookies a few weeks ago, but nothing happened when I ate em...

I'm sure it's not hitting every jar, but we threw it out just in case.
*Thanks Larry for posting this, I was about to--just saw this on CNN*

[ 02-15-2007, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: Ziroc ]

[robertthebard]

Lol, I hope so, because to make the numbers posted in the article, there are 3,333.33333333333 cases a month in the US alone. I think my calculator carried it a bit further than that, but you see my point. With that many cases a month, singling out 600 cases seems a bit strange to me.

Edit: Although, now you understand why choosey Bards choose Jif...

[ 02-15-2007, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: robertthebard ]

[Havock]

Don't believe the hype!! A little salmonella is good everyone. It toughens up your immune system. If you live in a sterile world then every little germ will make you sick as a dog.

[Ladyzekke]

Well it's better to be safe than sorry with salmonella, especially with children and people with low immune systems, so I'm glad that article was posted. Thanks Larry! And bye-bye Peter Pan, I always thought Tinkerbell had more nuts anyway. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

The article does mention that this is the first ever case of Salmonella found in Peanut Butter, a place that it is not supposed to be and since the Peanut Butter is eaten raw out of the package, there is no chance of cooking it to kill the bacteria. (unless you make cookies like Ziroc did, or a nice thai sauce for stir fry that I use sometimes...)

Quote: Improperly handled or undercooked poultry and eggs are the foods which most frequently cause Salmonella food poisoning. Chickens are a major carrier of Salmonella bacteria, which accounts for its prominence in poultry products...Anyone may contract Salmonella food poisoning, but the disease is most serious in infants, the elderly, and individuals with weakened immune systems. In these individuals, the infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites, causing death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. In addition, people who have had part or all of their stomach or their spleens removed, or who have sickle cell anemia, cirrhosis of the liver, leukemia, lymphoma, malaria, louse-borne relapsing fever, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are particularly susceptible to Salmonella food poisoning.

http://www.healthline.com/galeconten...od-poisoning-1

Sounds a little more serious now, doesn't it? I know somebody who has had part of their stomach removed in order to lose weight and the doctors told her that her only source of protein for several months has to be Peanut Butter! Every old person I know loves Peanut Butter and Crackers for lunch.

Please don't dismiss warnings like this. It will make you feel that much worse when somebody you know actually gets sick and you could have warned them. But you'll never tell them that you thought it was a joke, will you?

[ 02-15-2007, 12:12 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

By the way, I just came from the grocery store where I saw that all of the Peter Pan jars were removed before they opened this morning.

[robertthebard]

I'm not trying to say this is a joke, Larry, I'm just curious as to what tipped the scales/sounded the alarm on this particular outbreak, since it's not like it just came out of nowhere. With the statistics that are listed, I wouldn't even think the CDC would have been alerted to draw attention to the peanut butter angle. 300 cases since August are well within the norm, if that's an appropriate term. The article doesn't say what tipped them to peanut butter, just that 80% of those cases said they ate it. Does that mean that we can cut 20% off what they used for figures? Or is there something else that's not reported? See what I'm getting at now?

Edit:

Apparently, everybody is using the same source for story, as the Washington Post has the exact same story listed. However, in my search for other stories about it, I found several mentions of an outbreak earlier in 2006 that were linked to lettuce/tomatoes.

[ 02-15-2007, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: robertthebard ]