It’s been several years since a massive, crushing snowstorm hit the Washington, DC area, so I suppose you could say that it was long overdue.

Given the craziness of the Congressional struggle over healthcare benefits this week (which appears to be the political version of last-minute cramming for an exam, rather than steady, deliberative, organized studying) and the continued poor economic performance across multiple sectors and lackluster retail sales, having a respite in the form of severe bad weather may be a blessing in disguise.

A Little Bit More to Peanut Corporation of America: Voluntary Recall of Its Own:

Hot on the heels of the King Nut and Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) investigations for the peanut butter Salmonella contaminations with their voluntary recalls, further tracking of the PCA product distribution revealed impact on a consumer-facing foodstuffs company: Kellogg Company [K]. The FDA has posted that Kellogg yesterday announced its own voluntary recall of peanut butter containing products. Note that the recall includes a couple popular brand lines: several of the Keebler^® and Austin^® peanut butter crackers products.

More news on this critical issue will most likely be revealed soon.

More Reading

Other related Javamancy posts (in reverse chronological order):

• Peanut Corporation of America: Voluntary Recall of Its Own
• Attack of the Killer Peanuts
• Voluntary Peanut Butter Recall: Salmonella Involved

A Little Bit More to Voluntary Peanut Butter Recall: Salmonella Involved:

Yesterday, the company involved in the manufacturing of the rebranded King Nut peanut butter products involved in the current Salmonella outbreak issued its own voluntary recall: Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) has its announcement available on the FDA site.

In addition to the King Nut branded institutional/bulk peanut butter products, PCA also distributes the Parnell’s Pride branded items.

The affected items are linked to its Blakely, GA processing plant, which the CDC and FDA are checking as part of the Salmonellosis investigations.

Just as last year’s echos of the Salmonellosis deaths are still ringing in our ears, this year has already started off with a new series of Salmonellosis cases.

On January 8, 2009, the CDC posted a bulletin concerning a new outbreak of Salmonellosis, this time due to the Salmonella serotype Typhimurium. Unfortunately, there was no detail concerning the specific foodstuffs affected on that bulletin, or the next day’s bulletin…

… And yet, as we reported here earlier, there was a voluntary recall by King Nut concerning their branded peanut butter product.

However, peanut butter does appear  to be the food product implicated in the Salmonella outbreak. According to yesterday’s CDC bulletin, the King Nut smooth creamy form of their peanut butter item has been isolated by the Minnesota Department of Health in the area where victims were, and tracking the use of the King Nut brand to other facilities seems to indicate that it may be involved in the other cases in other states.

Check the updated map of Salmonellosis due to this specific strain to see the current distribution of cases. Note that the assumed date,  based upon the reported cases, extends back as early as September 1, 2008 (at least as far as a tracking date range), but 410 confirmed cases as of January 12, 2009.

A Little Bit:

The FDA has posted a voluntary recall announcement from King Nut, a peanut butter distributor, of their food service distributed King Nut branded peanut butter. The claim is that no other King Nut product is affected, including direct-to-consumer items.

However, keep in mind that food service distribution items may be sold to the public through wholesale outlets and clubs, so you should take care to evaluate the brand/label and source of your peanut butter. Also, and even more troubling, is that sellers of institutional or ingredient-type substances often provide their products to other well-known manufacturers. It is highly likely that many other regional and national (and perhaps even multi-national) food product manufacturers may be impacted by the recall, given the seriousness of Salmonellosis.

A 5-lb. tub of the King Nut peanut butter was discovered to be contaminated with a strain of Salmonella, which triggered the recall. No further information about the specific strain was provided.

N.B.

Remember the previous nationwide Salmonellosis epidemic? Read our related posts (in reverse chronological order):

• FDA Declares Tomatoes Safe to Eat
• Killer Tomatoes vs. Killer Peppers: The New Saga
• Progress on Stalking the Killer Tomatoes and Friends
• Salmonellosis Due to Another Culprit?
• The Tomato Wars 2: Ashburn’s Fuddruckers (and Nationwide McDonald’s Announcement)
• Colorful FDA Salmonellosis Response Graphic/Text
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Update 5
• Stalking the Killer Tomatoes to Florida and Mexico
• The Tomato Wars: BK vs. McD, and the Rest
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Update 4
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Update 3
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Update 2
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Redux
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

WebMD [WBMD] is sporting a new feature, targeted at diabetics. This is actually an online questionnaire that you can take to see how knowledgeable you are about diabetes and its impact on you.

Give it a shot, and see how much you know (or don’t know)!

Say it isn’t so!

A news report from Japan surfaced about a serious food crisis that began earlier this week, culminating in a shocker yesterday.

Yesterday (in Japan time, it’d be earlier “today”), Nissin Food Products issued a 500,000 unit recall of its Cup Noodles product, that iconic just-add-water instant food staple of the poor, beleaguered, tired working masses worldwide, after it was reported that traces of a bug repellent ingredient (paradichlorobenzene) was found in a Tokyo suburbanite’s Cup Noodles.

The woman was reported to have felt sick and vomited, with numbness on her tongue; after investigating, the local health office reported finding the contaminant in the culprit Cup Noodles. In response, Nissin issued the recall for the 500,000 units that had been created on the factory line on the same day as the bad noodles, but unfortunately, the majority of them had already been purchased by the folks in the Tokyo area, where those Cup Noodles had been distributed.

Starting today, Costco [COST] has begun offering flu vaccinations at various locations. As is typical, the cost is nominally set for USD $20.00, so if you happen to be at your favorite Costco outlet at the time, you can certainly get yourself of a life-saving flu shot while ‘grazing!

To determine when your Costco has the flu vaccine available (on a first-come, first-served basis, by the way), check their affiliate Find-a-Flu-Shot site.

Remember what I was saying about “killer tomatoes vs. killer peppers“?

Today, in breaking news, the FDA has declared that tomatoes are now (relatively) safe to eat, citing that the chances that the tomatoes grown earlier in April and May 2008 are most likely no longer in circulation.

On the flip side, the FDA warns against consuming raw “hot peppers”, like jalapeño and serrano peppers.

Even more news involves the FDA tracking the investigation toward a Mexican produce packing house that has been aggregating peppers from a number of farms.

Just when you thought things were bogged down on the mysterious tomato-related Salmonellosis, the FDA and CDC seem to have turned yet another corner on the widespread illness. But rather than narrowing the search definitively, it seems that the search has widened.

In addition to tomatoes, the FDA is also investigating other components found in tomato-based mixtures, such as salsa and picante. The additional produce being considered are jalapeño and serrano peppers; so do not consume raw jalapeño and serrano peppers. At this time, no specific states or territories have been named with regard to their production farms, like what we’ve seen with the tomatoes.