Austin Peanut Butter Crackers Recall
CDC: Salmonella outbreak numbers increase slightly Tue Jan 20, 8:51 pm ET ATLANTA – Health officials say the number of people sickened in a national salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter has grown to 485 cases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday the number has been inching up as lab tests confirm that new cases have the same genetic fingerprint as the outbreak strain. The illnesses have been reported in 43 states and Canada, and may have contributed to the deaths of six people. The Food and Drug Administration has traced the outbreak to a Georgia plant owned by Peanut Corp. Of America, which makes peanut butter and peanut paste. The government says consumers should avoid cookies, cakes and other foods containing peanut butter pending the results of the investigation. Peanut butter sold in jars to consumers is not included.
FDA: 125-plus products recalled in peanut outbreak 1 hr 42 mins ago WASHINGTON – Federal officials say more than 125 products have been recalled in a salmonella-and-peanuts investigation that keeps getting bigger. The list ranges from goodies like cakes and ice cream, to dog biscuits, Food and Drug Administration officials said Wednesday. All were made with peanut paste or peanut butter made at a Peanut Corp. Of America plant in Blakely, Ga. That has suspended production. The weight loss company NutriSystem was among the latest customers of PCA to be caught up in the investigation, issuing a recall Wednesday for peanut butter granola bars. More than 480 people have been sickened in the outbreak, which has contributed to at least six deaths.
Investigators say tests have found salmonella in the plant. On the Net: FDA list of recalls. I'm glad you said that. I assume its safe? We just bought a bunch of it a couple weeks ago. I had really good coupons and they ran a cheap sale so i got it for like.49 each. I told my dh They better give me full value if its included cause I can't get my coupons back!I think the jars are safe, I think it's just the snack type things - like crackers, ice cream, etc.
Kellogg Company Announces Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Austin® and Keebler® Branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers and Select Snack-Size Packs of Famous Amos® and Keebler® Soft Batch Peanut Butter Cookies Because of Possible Health Risk. Austin Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers 1.38 oz., 45-count Kosher (Circe U) D Toasty crackers Since 1932 Individually wrapped packages Austin Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers 1.38 oz., 45-count Skip to Main Content.
I just saw on TV that Petsmart was including some of their dog treats in the recall too. We had just bought some of the snack crackers and we took them back to the store and got store credit (couldn't find the receipt), which was fine with me since we shop there all the time anyways. MADISON, Wis.
As the recall of products containing peanut butter continue over concerns they might be contaminated with salmonella, area Girl Scouts selling cookies are trying to get the word out that their cookies aren't part of the recall. Federal officials said the contaminated peanut butter has contributed to six deaths and sickened more than 480 people.
In the last day, the Food and Drug Administration has added more products to its recall list, including snacks and even some pet foods. Area Girl Scouts are in the middle of their annual cookie sales, and while experts are saying people should avoid peanut butter products until this problem passes, the Girl Scouts said their peanut butter products are problem-free. 'Most of the phone calls and the e-mails have said, 'We want to buy Girl Scout cookies. We're concerned about the peanut butter situation. Are they safe to buy?' ' said Barbie Wiers, of the Girl Scouts, Black Hawk Council.
Wiers said buyers of Girl Scout cookies don't have to worry about salmonella contamination. 'Our baker is ABC Bakers, which is a subsidiary of Interbake Bakers. They voluntary test all of their incoming peanut butter shipments, so we know they're in the clear there,' Wiers said. But other peanut butter products are questionable, WISC-TV reported. Some have been pulled off shelves, and other products are just being avoided.
Austin Peanut Butter Cheese Crackers
Nasia Safdar, an infectious disease expert at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, said people normally don't think of peanut butter when they think of salmonella, but its ingredients make it very susceptible. 'There's a lot of potential for contamination,' Safdar said. 'It can't grow in peanut butter, but it can stay dormant. And pasteurization wouldn't kill it and so that can last indefinitely.
When people eat it, then it can certainly multiply.' But as people cut back on buying products with peanut butter, area Girl Scouts said they hope people don't avoid their cookies. Of the more than 480 people sickened by salmonella, three have been reported in Wisconsin. The cases were reported in Kenosha, Brown and Chippewa counties. Even though the salmonella threat has been traced to a single Peanut Corp.
Of America plant in Georgia, health officials are urging people to simply toss out any products in their home that contain peanut butter - with the exception of plain, jarred peanut butter. Gov't launches criminal probe in peanut recall By SHARON THEIMER and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, AP Writers 1 min ago WASHINGTON – Federal health officials opened a criminal investigation Friday into the Georgia peanut-processing plant at the center of the national salmonella outbreak. President Barack Obama pledged stricter oversight of food safety to prevent breakdowns in inspections. The investigation into Peanut Corp.
Of America follows reports of shoddy sanitation practices and inspections that found the company sold contaminated peanut products to food makers. At least 529 people have been sickened as a result of the outbreak, and at least eight may have died because of it.
More than 430 products have been recalled. In a statement late Friday, Peanut Corp. Expressed its 'deepest and most sincere empathy for those sickened' and said it was reviewing the facts to determine exactly what happened.
'Our top priority has been — and will continue to be — to ensure the public safety,' it said. 'For Peanut Corporation to engage in any discussion of the facts at this point is premature.' Until recently, federal food safety inspectors had not been to the Georgia plant since 2001. The Associated Press found that FDA interest in the facility was renewed, at least temporarily, after a shipment of peanuts from the plant was seized at the Canadian border. The shipment, taken April 11, originated at the Peanut Corp. Plant and was turned back at the border. The FDA seized the product after it was found to contain metal fragments.
The seizure was the FDA's first hint of problems with the peanut products being processed at the Georgia plant. At the FDA's request, Georgia state inspectors visited the plant on June 10 searching for the source of metal fragments. State inspectors visited again in late October, records show. Neither inspection looked for salmonella. A few weeks later, federal health officials saw the first signs of a salmonella outbreak.
But it took more investigation to identify peanut products as the cause, and the public wasn't alerted until early this month. The June inspection focused only on the metal-fragment issue discovered in the shipment to Canada, said Domenic Veneziano, director of import operations and policy for the FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs. 'Working with the state of Georgia, at no time did we look at other issues' during that inspection, Veneziano said. According to state inspection records, relatively minor violations were found. Inspectors took no samples of the peanut product for testing during the June inspection or during an Oct. 23 state inspection.
The FDA reported this week that federal inspectors who visited the plant since the salmonella outbreak found roaches, mold, signs of a leaking roof and numerous other sanitation problems. Federal officials now say the plant had a salmonella problem dating back at least to June 2007. Was under no obligation to tell the FDA it was making peanut butter at the Georgia plant, the FDA said Friday. Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's food safety center, said the Justice Department will investigate possible criminal violations by the Peanut Corp. The company shipped products that initially tested positive for salmonella after retesting and getting a negative result.
The FDA's investigations branch will assist in the probe. In another development Friday, officials urged consumers to be cautious about 'boutique' brands of peanut butter, which had not previously figured in the recall. Although national brands of peanut butter are unaffected, FDA officials warn that some smaller companies may have received peanut products from the Peanut Corp. Processing plant in Georgia. 'I think the revelations have no doubt been alarming,' said Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary. That a company which found salmonella in its own testing would continue to ship products 'is beyond disturbing for millions of parents,' he added. Obama plans to name a new FDA commissioner and other oversight officials in the coming days, and put in place a 'stricter regulatory structure' to prevent breakdowns in food safety, Gibbs said Friday.
The peanut shipment confiscated in April was destroyed in November after back-and-forth efforts between the FDA and Peanut Corp. Broke down and after the FDA rejected as 'unacceptable' findings by a private lab hired by Peanut Corp. To analyze the company's peanuts. 'The shipment was refused by FDA for filth' and destroyed, FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek wrote AP in an e-mail. 'The FDA did everything appropriately in handling the activities associated with this shipment,' Kwisnek said. The FDA's explanation Friday raises new questions about the adequacy of food-safety tests arranged by Peanut Corp. Of its own products.
The FDA said it refused to accept the private lab analysis because of problems with the size of the sample tested, lack of information about whether experienced and trained workers conducted the test, and questions about whether the test could have detected certain types of metals. 'The new developments are disturbing and suggest that this company had extensive problems,' said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., whose House Energy and Commerce Committee plans hearings into the company's actions and the government's response.
Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, also plans oversight hearings. The FDA, citing internal company documents, said Peanut Corp. Had hired a lab that conducted at least 12 positive tests for salmonella between 2007 and 2008 at its Georgia processing plant. The FDA said the company then used a different lab to retest the products, and those tests came back negative and the product was shipped to customers. FDA recall: Associated Press Writer Ben Feller in Washington and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report. Working with the state of Georgia, at no time did we look at other issues' during that inspection, Veneziano said.
According to state inspection records, relatively minor violations were found. Inspectors took no samples of the peanut product for testing during the June inspection or during an Oct. 23 state inspection. color=red The FDA reported this week that federal inspectors who visited the plant since the salmonella outbreak found roaches, mold, signs of a leaking roof and numerous other sanitation problems.
Are we expected to beleive that the FDA inspectors didn't NOTICE these problems until AFTER the salmonella became an issue?? That would be like a cop saying 'We were looking for drugs so we paid no attention to the guns and C4 in the livingroom'??