Search for Peanut Butter Product Recalls Database
As with many American families, peanut butter is a popular daily food choice. With the recent salmonella outbreak, keeping it in the pantry for possible contamination and poisoning is understandably a big concern in many households that some families have actually been reported to have started tossing peanut butters out of their pantry. Reports say that about under 500 people have already become ill of it and less than 10 have already died from complications.
In order to help consumers the FDA has set up a database where they can search if the peanut butter products they have at home are safe, or must be thrown away.
Head to this site to check. Make sure you have the brand name and the UPC code of the product you have at home.
The cause of the contamination has not yet been determined at this point. Investigation are still underway.
Excerpts from the MSNBC article:
In the case of the current outbreak, health officials have not yet pinpointed a specific cause of the salmonella contamination at the Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America, which distributes peanut butter and peanut paste to commercial firms. Officials said, however, that the bacteria appear to remain dormant in the peanut butter, but once they’re consumed, begin to grow.
Illnesses started on Sept. 8, with most occurring after Oct. 1 and the most recent confirmed case on Jan. 9, according to the CDC. At least 107 people have been hospitalized. Illnesses that occurred after Dec. 20 may not yet be logged because it can take two to three weeks from onset of illness until it’s reported, the agency said.
Health officials in several states contacted Tuesday said they have confirmed no cases or very few cases after about Dec. 25, despite the publicity surrounding the outbreak. That may be because there are few new cases, said Smith, the Ohio epidemiologist. Or it may be because people with salmonella poisoning chalked it up to a winter illness.
“Just like with a cold, the expression of this illness can be different in different people,” he said, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe.
Government officials on Jan. 17 advised consumers to avoid eating cookies, cakes, ice cream and other foods containing peanut butter until health officials learned more about the contamination. The FDA has created a searchable list of recalled products on the agency’s Web site. Major brands of jarred peanut butter sold in stores appear to be safe, officials said.
That’s small comfort to Daley, who is dismayed that the U.S. food chain is so vulnerable.
“It’s a matter of making sure that whatever systems are already in place need to be enforced or strengthened,” she said.
The outbreak has sparked a congressional inquiry and renewed calls for food safety reform, which grew strident after another widespread salmonella outbreak linked to fresh peppers last year.
