The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers that foods containing peanut butter like candy, cakes, and pies shoud be avoided until the agency can determine the cause of a salmonella outbreak that has afflicted five hundred people. Six deaths are attributed to the outbreak.
Peanut butter is made from a paste created by roasting cured peanuts. Experts believe that the paste was tainted which would taint the end product. Kellogg reacted quickly before the government made any recommendations and pulled Austin and Keebler branded peanut butter crackers from store shelves.
We contacted Lance, Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE) after Kellogg reacted so quickly. Days before the U.S. government said to avoid products with peanut butter, Lance denied any problem with their product. Lance told Consumer Help Web,
“We produce our own peanut butter and are not connected with the recent peanut butter recall. We can assure you our products are safe to eat.”
Maybe so. But for now we are sticking with federal recommendations about peanut butter products. Those recommendations say, in part, “Because identification of products subject to recall is continuing, the FDA urges consumers to postpone eating commercially-prepared or manufactured peanut butter-containing products and institutionally-served peanut butter until further information becomes available about which products may be affected.”
Passing on a Reese’s Cup or peanut butter crackers sounds like good food advice for this week.
This post was written by George Bounacos on January 18, 2009
