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The New PB&J: Peanut Butter & Jam That Users Are In

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

So far, 501 people in 43 states have gotten ill, none from Florida.

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By MARY SHEDDEN

mshedden@tampatrib.com

Published: January 29, 2009

Updated: 01/29/2009 03:33 pm

The number of items pulled in the nation's latest peanut butter recall may be leading some of you to look twice, even three times, at what you buy.

The last time peanut butter was found to carry dangerous strains of bacteria, in 2007, loads of jars of the high-protein staple disappeared from supermarket shelves. One kind of product. A few major brands. All found in one central location. Simple.

Now, it seems everything from ice cream to breakfast cereal to dog food is getting yanked for containing contaminated peanut paste, a concentrated product consisting of ground roasted peanuts. The number of products recalled by manufacturers surpassed 390 earlier this week.

The Food and Drug Administration has launched a searchable database (www.accessdata .fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutter recall) for people who want to find out whether their cookies, crackers or even diet granola bars might contain this dangerous strain of Salmonella typhimurium.

Name-brand jars of peanut butter so far have not been linked to the outbreak. The same goes for the Girl Scout cookies being sold now.

"Since this is still an ongoing investigation and companies are still recalling products, we urge consumers to keep checking our searchable database on the recalled products," Stephanie Kwisnek of the Food and Drug Administration said in an e-mail. "We are updating it daily."

So, far, 501 people in 43 states have gotten ill, none from Florida, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Eight deaths are suspected to be connected to the outbreak, which commonly causes symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

FDA investigators linked that strain to paste and industrial-size containers of peanut butter (distributed to places such as nursing homes and schools) manufactured at a plant in Blakely, Ga. That company has handed over its list of customers and suppliers to authorities.

Tracking down the companies that may have used the contaminated products "is a very large and ongoing undertaking," the centers' Robert Tauxe told the Los Angeles Times last week. It's not known when, or if, related recalls will cease.

Makes you want to avoid anything containing a hint of peanut butter, doesn't it?

This news doesn't surprise Michele Morrone, Ohio University director of environmental studies and author of "Poison on Our Plates: The Real Food Safety Problem in the United States (Praeger Publishers, $44.95). She says the recall reminds us there are no guarantees when it comes to food safety.

"People should really go about thinking that everything they bring into their home could be contaminated," Morrone says.

Bacteria love peanut butter, in particular, because it features two criteria needed for growth: It's a high-protein food and can be stored at room temperature, Morrone says.

But she adds that bacteria are present in most foods, and can multiply and reach unsafe levels when exposed to nonsterile situations. That can happen as food is grown, harvested, processed, stored, shipped or prepared, says the National Institutes of Health's Digestive Disease Clearinghouse.

That probably explains why there are an estimated 76 million cases of food-borne illness in the United States each year. While the CDC says most cases are mild, contaminated food still leads to 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths annually.

The elderly, very young and chronically ill are most at risk for food-borne illness.

The best thing consumers can do is be educated about risks, and know they are the last line of defense in protecting themselves and their family, Morrone says. The FDA database and alerts about recalls are helpful, but reactionary, she says.

"One of the reasons we're in a reactionary mode is that we haven't focused enough on prevention," she says.

SOME SMOOTH OPERATIONS ONLINE

Want more information about the peanut butter product recalls?

Ongoing recall list: www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.htm...

Searchable peanut butter recall database: www.accessdata .fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall

Sign up for e-mail alerts from the FDA: https://service.gov delivery.com/service/subscribe.html?code=USFDA_48

Latest outbreak health update from the CDC: http://cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium/

Want to share your health and fitness idea? Contact me at (813) 259-7365 or mshedden@tampatrib.com.

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