Skippy Peanut Butter Not the First to Carry Salmonella
Within the past few years, peanut butter has had many recalls for salmonella poisoning. Salmonella can appear on peanuts during their growing stage, collecting, or storage and turns up in low-moisture, high fat areas. Usually, hot processing temperatures are not enough to kill the salmonella bacteria and even if it was killed during manufacturing, the bacteria could still be lingering in the building and get into the products. The first case was in August 2006, when the company, Peter Pan, recalled 15 types of their products. Between then and May 2007, over 600 people in 47 states were affected. The next company to have tainted products was the King Nut Company, who in January 2009, issued a recall. The King Nut Company does not manufacture the product; it only distributes to seven states. One of the states is Minnesota, which is where the salmonella outbreak occurred. These cases all led to the Peanut Corporation of America in Blakely, Georgia in February 2009. By this time, more than 700 people became sick and nine people died. The FDA found that there was more than salmonella contamination in the PCA's buildings. There were cockroaches, equipment that wasn't cleaned properly, and a leaky roof. The PCA was also guilty of tainting pet food and over 200 companies had to recall almost 4,000 products because of this.
The most recent peanut butter salmonella case was just this week, when Skippy stated that their Reduced Fat Creamy and Chunky Peanut Butter Spreads might be tainted. 16 states are affected. However, there have been no illnesses stated yet.
I think food manufacturers need to take better care of their buildings. Their food is being sent to millions of people and producing this food in unsanitary conditions can in the long run, cause the company millions of dollars (in possible law suits). I think food companies should have stricter building and equipment codes and regulations so that another outbreak like this does not occur.
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