The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to add food products (for humans and for pets) that contain peanut butter to the voluntary recall list. As of Friday afternoon, the recall list included almost 300 products. FDA expects more products will be added to the recall list.
Because the national investigation is ongoing and more products are being added to the recall list, FDA recommends that consumers not eat any products containing peanut butter or peanut paste. Commercial brand jarred peanut butters are not included in this recall. If there is a question about a particular product, FDA recommends a consumer check the recall list or visit the individual company’s website.
Any product that is on the recall list should be thrown away in a manner that prevents others from eating them. If a product is not on the recall list and the product’s manufacturer is not certain about the ingredients, FDA recommends that consumers not eat the product.
Nearly 500 people nationwide are believed to have become ill from eating peanut butter or products containing peanut butter that are contaminated with a particular strain of Salmonella. There have been 6 deaths and 22 percent of the people who were sick had to be hospitalized. Four of these cases are from Rhode Island.
For further information about this outbreak investigation, visit http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium/. To see current list of recalled products, visit http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.html