ConAgra Foods Inc. told consumers to discard certain jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter after the spread was linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened almost 300 people nationwide. Lids of jars with a product code beginning “2111” can be returned to ConAgra for a refund, the company said.
The salmonella outbreak, which federal health officials said Wednesday has sickened 288 people in 39 states since August, was linked to tainted peanut butter produced by ConAgra at a plant in Sylvester, Ga.
CDC officials believe the salmonella outbreak to be the nation’s first stemming from peanut butter. The most cases were reported in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri.
You’d think it would be difficult to screw up a product so simple. The stuff I buy is ground peanuts plus a little salt and my wife hollers at me about the salt.
Of course that is real peanut butter we’re talking about. You’ll find that many peanut butter makers remove the valuable peanut oil and replace it with cheap soy or canola oils. Check the label. You’ll see.
And if you’re buying the real “all-American” brands, you get hydrogenated cottonseed oil in the recipe.
Canola oil is the biggest scam EVAR! A genetically modified rapeseed plant created by industry and the Canadian government, heavily subsidized to encourage adoption. And when I see “Organic” Canola, I just want to hurl! Stay far away from Canola, though it’s almost impossible these days.
Canola Oil – Canadian Oil Low Acid.
Hey, I’m Canadian and I never touch the stuff… Olive oil or butter or nothin’!
well,
we tried to kill off the east coast and all the polititions….
we need to try harder next time….
I don’t like peanut butter anyway.
This is further proof that brand name and generic brand products come from the same factory and manufacturing lines. Brand name products are no safer or higher in quality than generics.
Health food store, I grind my own peanut butter. Del.icio.us
Anything that is processed, becomes crap.
By becoming vegetarian (or at least cut your meat intake to once a week) you can use those extra $$$ saved from meat to buy at your local health food store, meals pre-prepared if you want to save yourself the trouble.
There is a peanut butter making machine in my local organic food shop. You buy your nuts, weigh and pay, then use the machine for free. No canola or cotton seed oil. No sugar syrup, either. And you know that the West African farmer who grew them has at least received a fair payment for his trouble.
the crunchy kind is the best
I keep a jar of PB in my desk drawer for emergencies, just checked it, JIF, sure enough, sugar, soy, and veg oil. I will be going to health food store from now on, but do you have to refrigerate?
#8…i am eating “Kraft” peanut butter that i bought in october 05, i mark all my canned goods & jars, with the mth & yr.i stock up when food is on sale,,,no problem yet with taste,,just a jar that i opened a couple of mths ago,,,,i don’t eat it all that often anymore, so it lasts me mths….soooo from my experience i can say no to the refidgerate & u can also save it 4 yrs…
but i beleive that the stuff u make yourself is different, shorter shelf life,,,or am i wrong?
10 — yes, probably shorter shelf life. 2 solutions:
1. refrigerator ain’t bad > take it out in advance of needing it > soften up for spreading. or be brave and nuke it for 20 seconds. 🙂
2. eat peanut butter more often!
used to hang out with an MP who was also a baptist preacher. He’d say, “Man cannot live by bread alone — he must have peanut butter!”
100% pure peanut butter doesn’t need refrigeration and won’t spoil for nearly two weeks, unless the room temperature exceeds 80F.
But won’t keep for months! It’s pure.
Just buy in smaller quantities, and the older stuff, just put it in your backyard for a squirrel or ant colony, so it gets recycled.
Squirrels are very funny with a half-full jar of pure peanut butter. They’ll try to steal it, and of course it won’t follow them up a tree.
Also try putting 3″ thick on a cracker, and wait for a squirrel to gobble it up, it’s cute & damn funny. Takes them over ten minutes, and usually they clean themselves after….real glossy fur.
Ever since I got a dog, the Sheltie wages war with the squirrels, so I now have to rely on you, fellow bloggers, for funny peanut butter stories.
“Just buy in smaller quantities, and the older stuff, just put it in your backyard for a squirrel or ant colony, so it gets recycled.
Put a blob of it on your dogs nose and watch the tongue action. Hours of fun!!!
Salmonella is a real problem in high fat products like peanut butter and chocolate, as the fat coats the organisms, allowing them to survive the acidic stomach environment. The fat acts as a Salmonella delivery system straight to the intestine, where it can cause serious problems.
The normal infectious dose of Salmonella is around 50,000 organisms/gram but in high fat products this can drop as low as 10 organisms/gram.
Kraft had a major outbreak of Salmonella in peanut butter in Australia in 1996, leading to dozens of people becoming ill.
Oh, yeah, peanut butter is also considered a high-risk food for aflatoxin contamination.
Wouldn’t be complete w/o this video.
http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1138634009
Oh yeah, did the peanut button on dogs nose thing. Shelties have very long noses, she had to use her paws, then lick her paws.
well damme, I have one of the offending jars in my own fridge. I knew that an agricultural giant would be the death of me, but I always figured it would be ADM …
Mark- Methinks Dan has way too much free time. Funny stuff though.
“Oh yeah, did the peanut button on dogs nose thing. Shelties have very long noses, she had to use her paws, then lick her paws.”
I guess your dog is smarter than mine.
Look up “aflatoxin” and “peanut butter” in google. Your “I grind up my own peanut butter” attitude will get you cancer! My epidemiology professor friend only eats Adam’s peanut butter, because his own testing revealed lower aflatoxin levels. Sure you have to mix up the peanut butter, but does it really matter? Better yet, do as I do… don’t eat peanut butter.
20. Blasphemy!
#12
Down here the native squirrels have a golden fur at the base while at the tip the fur is black.
Definitively prettier than the boring gray squirrels from north america.
#20,
Better yet, do as I do… don’t eat peanut butter.
Such heresy !!! I beg the Flying Spaghetti Monster has mercy on your rotten soul.
Maybe you were a college student still living with mom and dad.
Ok…..I’m sitting here trying to decide just how outraged I should be by the flying squirrels……..but I laughed, I LAUGHED DAMNIT!!!!!!!!
Years of animals rights work down the drain in less than 6 minutes.
I’m a failure.
Oh, and Peanut Butter is the real nectur of the Gods.
I have found that I really like Smucker’s natural peanut butter and the good folks at Smart Balance have a peanut butter with no trans-fat of hydros and it’s got omegas, too. Bonus!
Peanuts are ground nuts.
And Peanut Butter is ground ground nuts.
Is that enough to ground a Flying Squirrel? Would you put the ground ground nuts on the ground? I hope you didn’t toss the ground ground nuts into the air as then it would be airy ground ground nuts. Wow, just think what that would do to a flying squirrel’s head. Would the ground ground nuts affect the Flying Squirrel’s aerodynamics?
I know, you are groaning too much over ground ground nuts to give a flying squirrel a treat.
All you folk who are grinding your own peanuts are eating huge quantities of aflatoxin, a known cancer causing toxin.
Processed peanut butters, believe it or not, are better for you in this regard because they contain additives that prevent the growth of aflatoxin.
Not everything “organic” or “fresh” is better for you.
Great, I have an “infected” jar as well. Haven’t gotten sick but I guess it is garbage bound now.
#20 – What’s wrong with you? Peanut butter is not just a food, it’s a basic food group.
#26 – Dammit Fusion – I was having a jar of peanut butter for lunch, you made me laugh and now I have peanut butter in my sinuses.
Holy Cow! I have two jars of this stuff. Peter Pan 2111, for the miracle? – My wife has the receipts.
#29, Ok, ya got me, I’m speechless for a comeback. Damn, can’t you just, like, suck really hard or something?