Peanut Butter Recall!
Shipments of backpacker's favorite food contaminated with salmonella
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For lots of backpackers, peanut butter is the sweet-n’-salty glue that holds mealtime together. But some recent shipments of the wonder condiment/food group could contain an unpleasant tang that has nothing to do with your preference for crunchy or smooth: salmonella.
Certain shipments from the Blakely, Ga. plant of the aptly-named Peanut Corporation of America could have been contaminated with salmonella, and might’ve made their way into products sold by the King Nut company. Salmonella outbreaks connected to the peanut butter have affected 425 people in 43 states. As a result, Peanut Co. has recalled all products from its infected factory.
(For a list of salmonella symptoms, click here).
FDA and CDC officials are on the case, and luckily for us it seems most commercial brands of peanut butter available at grocery stores remain unconnected to the outbreak. Three deaths resulted from the salmonella contamination, but all were reported in elderly and ailing adults with complicating conditions.
“We deeply regret that this has happened,” company president Stewart Parnell said.
You better regret it, Peanut Co. of America. Jelly-and-jelly (J&J) sandwiches are so much lamer on the trail.
—Ted Alvarez
Peanut butter linked to salmonella outbreak is recalled (CNN)