Whole Peanuts Recalled in Ever-Expanding Recall

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

In the third expansion of a food recall that began with certain nut butters and later grew to include peanut and other nut butters sold at Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe’s, and other markets, whole peanuts have now been recalled amid fears of salmonella contamination.  MSNBC.com has more:

The Dallas-based company [Hines Nut Co.]recalled bags of salted jumbo Virginia in-shell peanuts on Monday for possible contamination with salmonella. The peanuts were processed by Sunland Inc. of Portales, N.M.

There are no reported illnesses from the Hines products.

Nearly 2 million pounds of peanuts are involved in the Hines recall, with the bags sold nationally in supermarkets such as Wal-mart and Dollar General stores. The salted jumbo peanuts were distributed from April 12 to Oct. 12, according to officials at the Food and Drug Administration.

The packing information begins with the words ‘BEST BUY’. The recall lot numbers are as follows, located on the fourth line of the ‘BEST BUY’ statement:

S03718, S03699, S03724, S03753, S03765, S03784, S03798, S03806, S03810, S03824, S03826, S03840, S03863, S03886, S03907, S03928, S03933, S03938, S03950, S03958, S03967, S03972, S03978, S03989, S03991, S04012, S04025, S04042, S04054, S04066, S04097, S04109, S04123, S04134, S04141, S04141, S04165, S04200, S04201, S04211, S04229, S04236, and S04247.

Consumers who have purchased the peanuts are urged not to eat them, but to return them to the place of purchase.

Image: Peanuts, via Shutterstock

Nut Butter Recall Expands Yet Again

Monday, October 8th, 2012

After more people have been sickened by suspected salmonella contamination in peanut butter and other nut butters made by New Mexico-based Sunland, Inc, the recall of the company’s products has been expanded for the second time in as many weeks. Initially, the recall affected products sold at Trader Joe’s and some smaller grocery chains.  Then last week, the recall was expanded to products that are stocked at Whole Foods Markets, Target, and other retailers.

Now, news of even more expansion to the recall, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that 35 people have been sickened by contaminated products, 5 in the last week alone.  Affected by the recall are all products produced at the company’s Portales, New Mexico plant dating back to a “best if used by” date of March 2010.  CNN.com has more:

According to a FDA statement, the expanded recall “covers all previously identified Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Cashew Butter, and Tahini products as well as Roasted Blanched Peanut Products. Several varieties of flavored butters and spreads, including Thai Ginger Butter, Chocolate Butter and Banana Butter, are also being included in this expanded recall.”

Health officials in Washington state have traced the same strain of salmonella that sickened 35 people nationwide to an open jar of Trader Joe’s Valencia Creamy Peanut Butter collected from the home of one of the people infected. This firmly establishes a link between a specific Sunland product and this salmonella outbreak, something the company spokeswoman Katalin Coburn said hadn’t been established by last week.

FDA inspectors have also found salmonella on surfaces at the Sunland processing plant, although further testing is required to confirm if it’s the same strain of Salmonella, called Bredeney, that has infected nearly three dozen people in 19 states and has led to eight hospitalizations so far.

Families should discard any unused recalled products, or return them to the stores where they were purchased.  For more information on whether specific products are under recall, call Sunland directly at 1-866-837-1018.

Image: Peanut butter, via Shutterstock