Orlando Lawyers Respond to Peanut Butter Salmonella Claims
We recently met with another victim of food contamination in Orlando. Unaware of the recall, unsuspecting parents were making snacks for their small child from Great Value jars of peanut butter. Fortunately, they learned that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that ConAgra Foods' Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter has salmonella contamination. The CDC formally reported the presence of the dangerous germ in peanut butter from opened jars from people sickened in New York, Oklahoma and Iowa. All three tested positive for salmonella.
ConAgra Foods Inc. earlier this month recalled all Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter made at its Sylvester, Georgia, plant after federal health officials linked the product to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 329 people from 41 states since August.
The Oklahoma Department of Health reported recovering seven peanut butter jars from 11 cases confirmed by the state, and found the strain of salmonella in at least one. Iowa's Department of Health positively matched a peanut butter jar from one of the state's six confirmed cases. At least 51 people were hospitalized with symptoms of the disease between August 1 and February 2, with 60 percent of illnesses beginning after Dec. 1, according to the CDC.
Salmonella, which commonly originates from the feces of birds and animals, sickens about 40,000 people a year in the United States and kills about 600. It can cause diarrhea, fever, dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting.
Government and industry officials have said the contamination may have been caused by dirty jars or equipment. Peanuts are usually heated to high, germ-killing temperatures during the manufacturing process. The only known salmonella outbreak in peanut butter -- in Australia during the mid-1990s -- was attributed to unsanitary plant conditions.
The Sylvester plant is the sole maker of the nationally distributed Peter Pan brand, and the recall covers all peanut butter produced by the plant since May 2006. Shoppers are being asked to toss out jars having a product code on the lid beginning with "2111," which denotes the plant. The jars or their lids can be returned to the store where they were purchased for a refund. Great Value peanut butter is a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. house brand made by several manufacturers. Great Value peanut butter that does not have the "2111" code is not included in the recall.
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