Peanut Butter Pulled Off Shelves After Salmonella Alert

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Supermarkets in Florida pulled jars of possibly tainted peanut butter from their shelves on Thursday after outbreaks of intestinal illness linked to the products were reported in 39 states, apparently sickening almost 300 people nationwide.

The Florida Department of Health said it has no confirmed cases of salmonella Tennessee, a bacterial infection that causes fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, but suggested that people check their kitchen cabinets and pantries for Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter carrying a product code on the lid that starts with 2111.

“We have no cases in Florida,” said Lauren Buzzelli, a spokeswoman for the department. “But Florida residents should just be wary.”

Both brands were manufactured by ConAgra Foods in Sylvester, Ga. ConAgra said it issued a voluntary recall of the products and is working with federal health officials to determine how salmonella could have gotten into its peanut butter.

“Although none of our extensive product tests have indicated the presence of salmonella, we are taking this precautionary measure because consumer health and safety is our top priority,” said Chris Kircher, spokesperson for ConAgra, in a press release.

Federal, local and state health officials are working together to confirm the source of the outbreak, but said 85 percent of those who got sick had eaten the peanut butter.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about the peanut butter on Wednesday after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention completed a study that linked 288 cases of the food-borne illness.

The illness usually lasts four to seven days and most people recover without treatment. But in some cases, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized, federal health officials said. The elderly, infants and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to get a more severe case.

The CDC said of 120 patients for whom it has clinical information, 26 percent were hospitalized, but no one has died.

Buzzelli, of the state health department, said people who have eaten peanut butter from a jar marked with the 2111 lot number, and who develop symptoms of the illness, should contact their doctor. Doctors who treat people with such an illness should report the cases to state or local health officials, she said.

Mary Crance, 43, said she, her husband and three daughters, ages 8 to 13, all had an intestinal illness last week, but did not go to the doctor.

“We just thought it was a stomach flu going around,” Crance said.

She said after hearing about the outbreak, she checked the jar of Peter Pan Creamy she purchased at a Publix near her home and found the 2111 number.

Crance said she called the Broward County Health Department on Thursday but was told that because no one in the family is still sick it would be impossible to tell whether they had salmonella or a Norwalk virus, which causes similar abdominal symptoms.

Megan Glaros, a meteorologist with WPLG in Miami, said she ate Peter Pan’s reduced fat peanut butter and discovered after the recall that it had the 2111 designation on the lid.

“I didn’t get sick, but two other people on staff who ate the regular kind did get sick,” Glaros said. “One was sick for a week.”

Fernando Senra, a spokesman for the state health department, said most people with these symptoms don’t go to a doctor, and that makes it difficult to track.

Anne Hendricks, a spokeswoman for Publix; Dennis Wortham, a spokesman for Winn-Dixie supermarkets; and Michael Mills, spokesman for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs, all said jars of peanut butter with the 2111 lot numbers have been removed from store shelves, and that customers who bought the product can return it for a refund or replacement with another brand.

“We have not heard of any illness,” Hendricks said. “The only questions we have had is `If I have it, can I return it?’” She said the Peter Pan brands were part of a “buy one, get one free” offer at the stores from Feb. 8 to Wednesday.

Hendricks said she didn’t know how many of the chain’s 231 stores had carried the suspect jars.

Mills said Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs pulled the products and added a back-up safety measure. If a jar was missed and not taken off the store shelf and is brought to a cash register by a customer, the cashier will get a computer prompt saying not to sell the item.

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(c) 2007 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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