Peanut butter sickness still coming: Peter Pan, Great Value salmonella cases top 600, would you eat it again?

Sarah Gilbert — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:52:00 EST

Filed under: Bad News, Products and Services, Consumer Experience, ConAgra Foods (CAG)

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?

Peanut butter sickness still coming: Peter Pan, Great Value salmonella cases top 600, would you eat it again? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Peter Pan peanut butter recalled: have Americans stopped washing their hands?

Sarah Gilbert — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:21:00 EST

Filed under: Bad News, Products and Services, Employees, ConAgra Foods (CAG)

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.

Continue reading Peter Pan peanut butter recalled: have Americans stopped washing their hands?

Peter Pan peanut butter recalled: have Americans stopped washing their hands? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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