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