Peanut butter is a common food that is found in households across North America. It is a food source that is recommended for diabetic. I eat a teaspoon of peanut now and then when I am feeling a bit hungry but not hungry enough to have a meal. It satisfies my hunger and keeps me from eating more than I need.

 

Peanut butter makes a great sandwich and for quite sometime was a school lunch favourite.

 

It is also important to recognize the people who have a peanut allergy and for whom any contact with peanut butter can be fatal or at least make then very ill.

 

This reality has forced parents to seek alternatives as peanut butter is banned from schools due to the threat it poses.

 

The recent Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recall in the United Sates shows that peanut butter poses another threat.

 

 

The FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state partners have traced sources of Salmonella Typhimurium contamination to a plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), which manufactures peanut butter and peanut paste—a concentrated product consisting of ground, roasted peanuts—that are both distributed to food manufacturers to be used as an ingredient in many commercially produced products including cakes, cookies, crackers, candies, cereal and ice cream. In addition, PCA peanut butter is distributed to and institutionally served in such settings as long-term care facilities and cafeterias.

 

Across the United States the products recalls have been rolling in and this blog entry lists  some of them; more have happened just in the 24 hour period since this was first written.

 

To date only peanut butter from a plant owned by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) is involved. 

 

There are some things to consider, one is that peanut butter and peanut paste are in a wide range of products, ice cream, cookies, candies and cereal to name a few.  There is a list of products that to date are affected. 

 

 

The second is the reminder that how the common everyday things that we take for granted, liked peanut butter and cheeseburgers can turn into a nightmare and create a health and economic disaster.

 

So far the economic impact of this outbreak appears to be minimal but the health impact is as not yet fully known but sources say over 470 people have been infected and six have died.

 

If you have contacted salmonella you are most likely to develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.  The majority will recover without treatment but will be ill for four to seven days.

 

The diarrhea, for some, may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. In these cases it is possible the Salmonella infection will spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.