First there was the tomato scare, then there was the milk scare, now it’s the peanut butter scare. It seems that even when it comes to food, safety is not something we should take for granted anymore. The recent salmonella contamination of US-made peanut butter has sent people running around, trying to get rid of food products possibly made with contaminated peanut butter.
You’d think it would be easy but no, it is far from that. This recent issue has made one thing clear – food production is not as simple as some of us might have thought it was. The Food and Drug Administration has already pinpointed about 130 food products that have been recalled but you should continue to check that list as they say that more will be added as the investigation continues.
Before consuming any food product, you must take great care to examine the label and make sure that it is safe. Ironically, peanut butter in jars – which we normally buy at the supermarket – is deemed safe.
The most prominent brand of commercial peanut butter which has been linked to the salmonella outbreak is King Nut, which comes in packages anywhere from 5 pounds to 1,700 pounds – unlikely to be consumed by households but generally used in commercial production. Products which you should watch out for include peanut butter cups, ice cream, cereals, cookies, sandwiches, and the like. Fans of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Nutter Butter cookies have nothing to worry about, though, as Hershey’s and Kraft do not use King Nut peanut butter.
