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.

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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

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.

A Little Bit More to Stalking the Killer Tomatoes to Florida and Mexico:

As the story on the exploration of the “tomato-related” Salmonellosis possibly being due to another cause(s) was being assembled, the FDA has released another announcement on their update page on the progress of their investigation, as a PDF transcript, that discusses the currently known statistics and the non-tomato produce.

The Setup

When the initial information about the afflicted persons came in, supposedly due to the tomato-related Salmonellosis, the serious cases were alleged to be salsa-, guacamole- and/or picante-related. While this was later translated to being due to tomatoes, what if it isn’t?

Why is this little detail so important? Because the number of cases continues to escalate despite the FDA’s and CDC’s attempts to identify and shut down any tomato-based sources for the Salmonellosis.

As of June 29, the updated reported numbers from the CDC are as follows:

Since April, 851 persons infected with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 36 states and the District of Columbia. These were identified because clinical laboratories in all states send Salmonella strains from ill persons to their State public health laboratory for characterization. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Arkansas (10 persons), Arizona (39), California (10), Colorado (11), Connecticut (4), Florida (1), Georgia (18), Idaho (3), Illinois (91), Indiana (11), Kansas (14), Kentucky (1), Maine (1), Maryland (29), Massachusetts (21), Michigan (6), Minnesota (2), Missouri (12), New Hampshire (3), Nevada (4), New Jersey (4), New Mexico (90), New York (26), North Carolina (5), Ohio (6), Oklahoma (19), Oregon (10), Pennsylvania (8), Rhode Island (3), Tennessee (6), Texas (346), Utah (2), Virginia (22), Vermont (2), Washington (4), Wisconsin (6), and the District of Columbia (1).

In comparison, in our previous Attack of the Killer Tomatoes update, the CDC’s 6/23/2008 infected patient count is 613 persons since tracking began in April 2008.

The Mystery Deepens

While assembling the research for “The Tomato Wars 2” story, I was curious about how the CDC and FDA were searching for the Salmonellosis source. Because, instead of tomatoes, what if it was due to at least one of the other components that you typically find in salsa and/or picante sauces? Things like garlic, onions, spring onions, hot and/or mild peppers, cilantro… any of these things could certainly harbor microorganisms. And, in fact, there is some activity in this avenue of inquiry (according to AP).

And, on another front, what if the tomatoes under suspicion are somehow still in circulation because they are getting repackaged over and over and redistributed to unsuspecting customers?

Fuddruckers: The Setup

A few days ago (this past Thursday (6/26/2008, ‘kay?)), I went over to Fuddruckers to celebrate Tom’s birthday.

Several days before that (on 6/15/2008, in fact), we’d gone over to Fudd’s, only to find out that they had yanked their tomatoes, due to the Salmonellois outbreak. As we sat in our large circular booth, munching on tomato-free half-pounders, I wondered how long it would take for the restaurant biz would regroup and bring tomatoes back.

Fuddruckers: The Premise

Earlier, several restaurant chains have sought public approval by announcing their (temporary) stoppages of using raw tomatoes in their dishes.

Now, despite the major tomato-related Salmonellosis warning updates, restaurants and restaurant chains still need to earn your money, right? So, a lot of ‘chains have attempted to restock fresh, raw tomatoes, either nationwide or in select markets.

Fuddruckers has recently joined the roster of restaurants which have started to restore raw tomatoes to their lineup of fixin’s. A lot of franchisees have gone through the effort of confirming their supply originations to make sure that they’re not receiving suspicious produce.

Fuddruckers: The Action

As I sat contentedly munching on my tomato-adorned half-pounder on Tom’s birthday, I was wondering how much longer this Salmonellosis outbreak will last, and who is the culprit in this major infectious disease mystery.

In Other (but Related) News: McDonald’s

A lot of you definitely enjoy dining at McDonald’s, so the news I reported here (back on 6/19/2008) about the still-unavailable fresh tomato supply at McDonald’s was certainly disappointing. This is despite the recent (6/14/2008???) announcement by McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud that sliced fresh tomatoes were expected back in restaurants in the 7-10 day timeframe.

While I haven’t confirmed firsthand that fresh, sliced tomatoes have truly migrated back into the local McDonald’s restaurants, other folks have mentioned that they have seen them on some sandwiches… but they themselves did not order any of those sandwiches.

If you have the opportunity to stop by a McDonald’s, get yourself a tomato-containing sandwich or burger, and let us know about your experience.

For folks who need that “extra ooomph” in explanations of potentially serious health risks (or because reading text may be somewhat… challenging), the FDA has prepared a one-page PDF that outlines the current state of affairs associated with their public activities surrounding the tomato-related Salmonellosis. While the events described in the PDF have been going on for the past several weeks, the posting date for the PDF appears to be June 27, 2008 (today’s date).

More Reading

These other Javamancy posts are listed in reverse chronological order: