Reports are coming in of more food companies in the US pulling products containing peanut butter as the nationwide list of victims linked to a Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak grows to over 470 cases of infection and 6 deaths.

Grocers Kroger Co. and Meijer Inc, and the food processing company General Mills Inc, have joined the list of companies withdrawing peanut butter and peanut paste products, according to a report by the Associated Press earlier today.

The latest update from the US Food and Drug Administration states that they and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have found a Salmonella Typhimurium strain that is genetically identical to the one linked to the nationwide outbreak in a Georgia plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

This was after the authorities in Connecticut and Minnesota reported to the FDA that samples of King Nut peanut butter (which is made at the PCA plant in Blakely, Georgia) were a genetic match to the salmonella associated with the nationwide outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium.

King Nut distributes PCA products, and this information, together with lab results and epidemiological analysis by the CDC, led the FDA to conclude that the source of the outbreak was peanut butter and peanut paste made at the PCA Blakely plant in Georgia.

PCA manufactures peanut butter and peanut paste (which is made of ground, roasted peanuts) and distributes them to food companies who put them in products like cakes, cookiers, cereal, ice cream, crackers and candies. PCA also supplies peanut butter directly to institutions like workplace cafeterias and long term care facilities.

PCA expanded its recall of peanut butter and peanut paste products late last week. All peanut products being recalled by PCA are sold in bulk, in differently sized containers ranging from 5 lb to 1,700 lbs. All PCA peanut past products being recalled are sold in sizes ranging from 35 lb containers to tankers. None of these products is sold directly to consumers.

Since the current outbreak has only been traced to the PCA plant, and the company does not sell directly to consumers, major national brands of jarred peanut butter are not affected by the PCA recall, said the FDA. The products most likely to be affected are those that use PCA peanut butter and peanut paste as an ingredient.

Consumers who want to know which products to avoid, should consult the searchable list that the FDA has made of products and brands affected by the PCA recall. And they should keep going back since the list is updated daily.

In the meantime, the FDA and the CDC advise consumers:

  • Do not eat recalled products and dispose of them so that others can’t eat them either.

  • If you think you are ill because you ate a peanut butter product, see your doctor.

  • If you can’t find a product on the FDA searchable list of recalled products, then either call the toll-free number listed on the packaging, or visit the company’s website.

Click here for the FDA searchable list of recalled products.

Sources: FDA, CDC, Associated Press.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD