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Salmonella Confirmed in Peanut Butter

At Least Two Deaths Blamed on Tainted Peanut Butter So Far

By Mark Huffman and Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 23, 2007

• Judge Nixes Peanut Butter Class Action • FDA Failed to Follow Up on 2004 Peanut Butter Contamination • Peter Pan Returning To Store Shelves • Consumers Still Getting Sick From Tainted Peanut Butter • Fourth Peanut Butter Death Reported • Peanut Butter Recall Extended to Products Made as Early as 2004 • Peanut Butter Scare Stirs Congress • Consumers Left Holding the Peanut Butter Jar • Earlier Peanut Butter Contamination Kept Quiet • Peanut Butter Developed as a Health Food • Third Death Blamed on Peanut Butter • Peanut Butter Recalls Spread to Ice Cream & Desserts • FDA Says Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak Is "Ongoing" • Salmonella Confirmed in Peanut Butter • Second Death Linked To Tainted Peanut Butter • Death Linked To Tainted Peanut Butter • ConAgra Recalls Tainted Peanut Butter as Complaints Mount • FDA Widens Peanut Butter Warning • Reports of Peanut Butter-Borne Illness Increase • FDA Warns of Salmonella in Peanut Butter --- • Consumer Complaints about Peanut Butter --- • Salmonella: What It Is • More about Food Safety ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has confirmed the presence of Salmonella in peanut butter produced by ConAgra Foods' Georgia plant. At least two people are believed to have died and hundreds have been sickened.

The agency says it has confirmed the presence of Salmonella in opened jars supplied by consumers who were sickened in New York, Oklahoma and Iowa. The question now, said CDC spokesman Dave Daigle, is how the contamination occurred.

Dirty jars and equipment are the most likely suspects. Since the peanut butter itself is heated to high temperatures that would normally be expected to kill any germs, the containers and packaging equipment are the prime suspects.

CDC investigators noted that a similar outbreak in Australia during the mid-1990s was blamed on unsanity plant conditions.

An elderly Chicago area man may be the second person to die after eating tainted peanut butter. George Baldwin was said to be in relatively good health just before his recent death from complications of food poisoning. His family believes he was killed by his fondness for Peter Pan peanut butter.

"He puts the peanut butter on toast, eats the toast, in six hours he develops fever, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting -- all of which are signs of salmonella poisoning," Baldwin family attorney Don McGarrah told WBBM-TV.

A 76-year old Pennsylvania woman's death last month is also allegedly linked to the salmonella-tainted peanut butter. Roberta Barkay of Philadelphia died from complications of food poisoning, and family members contend she too ate peanut butter shortly before her death. The family has hired an attorney who has filed suit against the manufacturer, ConAgra.

Company Contrite

ConAgra CEO Gary Rodkin vowed the company will take "all reasonable steps to remedy the situation."

"We are truly sorry for any harm that our peanut butter products may have caused," Rodkin said.

The plant was last inspected by the Food and Drug Administration in February 2005 and no problems were found, according to the FDA.

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." The jars or their lids can be returned to the store where they were purchased for a refund.

So far, at least 329 cases of illnesses have been linked to the outbreak, although one attorney who had already filed a class action lawsuit claims to have been contacted by more than 2,000 alleged victims.

ConsumerAffairs.com has received more than 70 complaints from consumers who say they became ill. Many did not seek medical care and those who did were often misdiagnosed.

Potentially Fatal

Salmonella • Salmonella Outbreaks: A Recent History • Salmonella: What It Is --- • More about Food Safety

Most of the consumers who have written to ConsumerAffairs.com have "toughed it out," taking over-the-counter medications and hoping for the best, but doctors warn that Salmonella is dangerous and requires medical attention.

"Salmonella is nothing to be taken lightly. It's very serious and it's potentially fatal," said Henry J. Fishman, M.D., ConsumerAffairs.com's medical correspondent.

Consumers who think they may have it should, "call a doctor or go to an emergency roomm" Fishman said. "People with a depressed immune system would be at an even greater risk. That includes the very young and elderly people, chemo patients and those with HIV."

Fishman, a practicing internist and allergist in Washington, D.C., warned that intense vomiting and diarrhea can cause not only dehydration, but also an electrolyte imbalance, possibly leading to a fatal heart arrythmia.

Consumers who have fallen ill need to drink lots of fluids to counteract that but, more importantly, they need to seek medical attention and may require IVs to administer high doses of antibiotics and to maintain fluid balance.

Misdiagnosed?

But going to the emergency room or to one's private physician doesn't guarantee appropriate treatment. Wilma of Mooresville, N.C., said she went to the emergency room after being sick for several days.

"I was feeling dizzy, still nauseated, and numb on the left side of my face. I thought I might be having a stroke. The ER did a CAT scan and came back with the general idea that I was suffering from a sinus infection due to the fact that they saw that my nasal passages were clogged," she said.

"They gave me prescriptions for antibiotics, and decongestants for my lungs which did not help at all, since I did not have a sinus infection," she said.

Patricia of Spirit Lake, Fla., became alarmed after she and her four children became ill after eating the recalled peanut butter. She called and emergency room and was told there is no test for Salmonella poisoning.

In fact, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, salmonellosis is diagnosed through serological identification of culture isolated from stool.

Physicians and public health officials are concerned by reports that consumers are trying to "tough it out" and are not seeking medical care for Salmonella, especially when the ill person is a senior, a child or has an existing medical condition.

"Individuals who have recently eaten the affected Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter and who have experienced any symptoms of Salmonella infection should contact their health care provider immediately," according to the FDA.

"Symptoms include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. For persons in poor health or with weakened immune systems, Salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections."

The tainted peanut butter was marketed under the Peter Pan and generic Great Value brands and was sold after March 2006. The company says the suspect jars can be identified by a number on the jar lid that begins with the number 2111.

Great Value peanut butter is a Wal-Mart Stores 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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