Friday, February 16, 2007

GEORGIA’S REVENGE

A salmonella outbreak has been traced to peanut butter, say CDC staffers in a recent news story.

Consumers should discard jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter that bear product codes beginning with the digits 2111. The affected product all appears to have been made at a single ConAgra, Inc. facility in Sylvester, Georgia.

Hundreds of people have been sickened in an area covering 39 states, with about a quarter of those affected requiring hospital care.

“I eat peanut butter every week,” said Etowah, Tennessee’s Randolph Bletch, 27, one of the victims. “In fact, I have peanut butter almost every day. Last Monday I was having my favorite, raw chicken with peanut butter on a Kaiser roll with lettuce and tomato, and the next morning I felt awful.”

Melanie Hamby, a 44-year-old homemaker and candle-dipper from Snellville, Georgia, began feeling ill Wednesday morning.

“I had a peanut butter and Mexican spinach salad at lunch Tuesday. Next thing you know, it was coming outta both ends.”

Salmonella frequently is spread by contamination with feces. A ConAgra spokesman said that the company was conducting an internal investigation to establish the source of the contamination and to prevent future incidents.

Separately, a ConAgra marketing official informed reporters that, “...our plans to market ‘Peter Pan Peanut Butter with Poopy Pebble Pieces’ have been put on hold indefinitely.”

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