Peanut butter manufactured under the "Peter Pan" and "Great Value" brands with the product code 2111 by ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) is still making people sick, according to the latest report by the Centers for Disease Control. Although the entire batch of tainted peanut butter has long been pulled from store shelves, it's difficult to remove from consumer's shelves (especially as the two-dollar refund isn't exactly a money-maker). And processed peanut butter (as we well know) seems to last forever; I wouldn't be surprised if first-graders are still toting contaminated sandwiches to school in their lunchboxes next fall.So as my college track buddy Josephine always said around October when the sniffles would break out around the locker room, "sickness is coming." Sickness is still coming, and likely will continue for some time; 628 cases in a whopping 47 of our 50 U.S. states have been reported, with more than 200 new since March when the CDC last reported (the peanut butter recall was announced in mid-February 2007).
ConAgra won't be producing peanut butter from its Sylvester, Ga. plant again for a while, as renovations to fix the moisture problems blamed for the contamination are still underway; but the company will reintroduce its Peter Pan brand in July. But with customers still sickening, will anyone go back? Would you eat Peter Pan peanut butter again?
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.
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