While preschool was difficult for my son, who just doesn't like playing according to a schedule, I can gratefully point to one rule I needed help reinforcing: washing his hands. Like all the rest of the kids, he was required to wash hands after going to the potty and before eating snacks.Clearly, the food workers of America did not learn this lesson.
Salmonella can infect a food in two ways: (1) if the raw meat or uncooked eggs from an infected chicken or other animal is ingested (either by eating raw food or by contaminating other foods with chicken juices, etc.) or (2) a human's feces come into contact with food. Because someone didn't wash his hands after using the potty. The CDC says the source of contamination is "still under investigation," but as this is the first-ever peanut butter contamination I'm just going to go out on a limb and say "human feces."
Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter products (starting with code 2111) have been recalled by ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG), thanks to a salmonella outbreak. I'm sure the parents who just sent their children to school with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches told them to wash their hands before lunch.
It's not like this is the first time this has happened, even in the past few months.
And your spinach. That was a bad scene; the nation's vitamin A and folate levels must have dropped by halves for the many weeks that spinach became unavailable throughout the U.S.
All because of a little rule you should have learned in preschool. Wash your hands, workers of America, wash your hands!











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
2-15-2007 @ 3:27PM
barb said...
I agree with the wash your hands. I went to a Wendys and I see another problem. The young man behind the counter sneezed and wiped his nose in his hand and picked up my food to pack it. I told him I wanted my money refunded because I would not touch the wrapper after seeing this. I know this goes on in all restaurants but when you see it , you get sick. Goes back to wash your hands before touching food.
2-15-2007 @ 3:27PM
Beatrice said...
Let's point to the real culprit here greedy corporations!!!!!!
2-15-2007 @ 4:29PM
Adrienne said...
I'm very strict about people touching my food with their hands. I've call the health department on many restaurants because of this and I will keep doing it until the laws get tougher about this. I will never allow anyone to touch my food regardless of what they say. People call your city health department if you see employees touching your food with their hands, and let them know that you won't accept this nastyness regardless who gets upset.
2-17-2007 @ 5:55PM
E. Cable said...
Not necessarily Americans but the numerous people from 3rd world
countries that don't have the health standards of this country and
don't want to assimilate to American lifestyle and standards.
2-16-2007 @ 12:22AM
joan cannon said...
I have several large jars of the 2111 Peter Pan peanut butter. Is there any refund or replacement planned? Thank You
2-16-2007 @ 10:39AM
Paul L. said...
While it is true that handwashing may or may not be the culprit in many of these cases, there is also contamination due to the use of fertilizers which contain tainted animal feces and cross contamination when equipment that is used for processing raw animal meat is not properly sanitized before using the same equipment for other uses. Proper handwashing, while the most important thing a person can due to protect oneself from the transmission of harmful microorganisms, will not in and of itself rid the world of food borne illness, and to assume that the "workers of America" are not washing their hands is both unfounded and foolish. Food borne illness outbreaks have occurred for centuries. We here about them more often due to better investigative and detection techniques and 24 hour new access.
2-16-2007 @ 10:27AM
LuEllen B. said...
Please let me know of any refunds or reimbursement sites for the 2111 Peter Pan Peter Butter. I have one jar of it that's nearly gone - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
2-16-2007 @ 10:32AM
Kim said...
Yes if you go to www.conagrafoods.com/index.jsp
There is a place to click and get the address to send it back for a refund. All you need to send is the lid with the 2111 number on it. I had already thrown ours out.
2-16-2007 @ 11:31AM
csangos said...
This isn't the first ever peanut butter case. Austraila had an outbreak in 1996. It was traced to the roasting process, which did not kill all bacteria on the peanuts.
2-16-2007 @ 11:21AM
Tamara Smith said...
I have a jar of the 2111 peanut butter. I ate it on Saturday, February 10th and got sick Sunday night and was out of work for 3 days. Does ConAgraFoods plan to do anything other than reimburse consumers for the purchase? This is very sad that we can't even count on food companies to help nurish our bodies with good quality food. How often does the equipment get cleaned and sanitized?
2-16-2007 @ 12:00PM
Christina Johnson said...
Send your lids with the number 2111 to ConAgra Foods
P.O. Box 3768, Omaha, Nebraska 68103. As per a recording at ConAgra Foods.
2-22-2007 @ 2:13PM
Rich said...
Tinker Bells Curse!! I also had a jar of the 2111 Peanut Butter that is nearly gone and I got as sick as I had ever been in my life. At one point I thought I was going to die! Gee, getting two dollars back seems almost worth it. Give me a break!!
2-16-2007 @ 3:07PM
Sherry Pope said...
I have a jar of the Peter Pan Peanut butter with the 2111 # on it. I ate approximately 1/2 of the jar myself. Should the people who ate this batch of peanut butter be tested for Salmonela? If so where do we go?
2-16-2007 @ 3:05PM
Larry Smith said...
We have three jars of the 2111 stuff(any relation to 911, Hummm?)I had two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches about a week ago and the next day I had a stomach ache all day, a wierd one at that. I am just now getting my usual energy back. Then to top it off I ate the peanut butter on some pancakes last night. So.... do I have some more of that stomach pains to look forward to today. I baught malox the other day. Does Con Agra own them also...?
Do I sound like a conspiracy theorist?
2-16-2007 @ 4:12PM
ilene miller said...
I also got very ill after eating the peanut butter sandwich. I plan find a lawyer and institute suite. I imagine a class action law suite is in the making.
2-16-2007 @ 5:00PM
CATHY MILLER said...
I have one..at least what's left of one jar of the infected peanut butter. I ate it two days for lunch and couldn't understand why I was so sick...thought I had the flu...some flu...worse than any I have ever experienced. If someone starts a class action, please post so I can jump on board! My mother, aged 86, also got deathly ill on one sandwich. Thanks.
2-16-2007 @ 5:19PM
Mal Fuller said...
I've concluded that every jar of Peter Pan or Best Value Peanut Butter ever made in Conagra's Georgia plant has a lid code that begins with 2111 & that the recall is best characterized by the FDA having drawn broad conclusions from very limited facts. One mother quoted in the news has become worried there is something wrong with her 3 daughters because they'd eaten lots of code 2111 peanut butter without becoming ill. Also, notice that local television newscasts from all over the nation have all "found" code 2111 jars to feature on their news programs. Isn't it otherwise incredible that victims reportedly first appeared in August 2006 and six months later code 2111 jars are all that are reported? As Paul Harvey would ask, what's the rest of the story?
2-18-2007 @ 5:38AM
Allen Elliott said...
I also was sick from 2111 ,I used Half a jar and was sick for 4 days ,Imissed One day of work ,Wich i cannot aford to do!!
2-16-2007 @ 5:45PM
LOUISE said...
I ATE THE PEANUT BUTTER 4 WEEKS AGO AND HAVE BEEN REALLY ILL SPENT A WEEK IN BED OR ON THE CAMODE AM BETTER BUT STILL HAVE A LITTLE PAIN IN MY BOWELS HAVE BEEN TO 2 DR.S THE LAST ON AFTER THE NEWS WAS OUT ABOUT THE PEANUT BUTTER HE SAID THE TREATMENT WAS WITH BENICAR AND FLORA Q. I HAVE STARTED IT AND HOPE IT WORKS WILL KEEP YOU POSTED AND LET YOU KNOW IF IT WORKS. LOUISE
2-16-2007 @ 6:03PM
Shirley Ragalye said...
I too have a jar of Peter Pan with the code 2111;which is 3/4 empty. I ate it all myself and thought that I had the flu 3 days later with stomach cramps,diarrhea still,vomitting,headache,and thinking boy do I fell like I'm dying here~~then I watched the 11p.m. news and heard about the Peter Pan. Where do we go to get tested for Salmonella? If there is someplace we should go could someone let us know please? I line in Connecticut.