Detailed information on Kellogg crackers recall

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ATLANTA (AP) - Concerns over consumer exposure to salmonella intensified Thursday, a day after Kellogg Co. asked stores to stop selling its peanut butter sandwich crackers until the food maker can figure out if the peanut paste is contaminated.

The national salmonella outbreak has sickened more than 430 people in 43 states and may have contributed to five deaths.

Kellogg gets at least some of its paste from Lynchburg, Va.-based Peanut Corp. of America, which has recalled 21 lots of peanut butter made since July 1 at its plant in Blakely, Ga., because of possible contamination from the bacteria. While not going so far as issuing a recall, Kellogg asked stores nationwide to remove the crackers sold under its Austin and Keebler brands and urged consumers not to eat those products until regulators have completed an investigation into Peanut Corp.

Kellogg, based in Battle Creek, Mich., said it hasn't found problems or received complaints about those products.

"We are taking these voluntary actions out of an abundance of caution," Kellogg CEO David Mackay said in a news release.

The products being removed include Austin and Keebler toasted peanut butter sandwich crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwich crackers, cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers, and peanut butter-chocolate sandwich crackers.

Peanut Corp. also sells bulk supplies to institutions including schools, nursing homes and hospitals.

Health officials in Minnesota and Virginia have linked two deaths each to the outbreak and Idaho has reported one.

All five were adults who had salmonella when they died, though their causes of death haven't been determined. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak may have contributed.

There are about 2,000 types of salmonella, the nation's leading cause of food poisoning. About 40,000 cases are reported each year.

CDC officials say the bacteria in this outbreak has been genetically fingerprinted as the typhimurium type, which is among the most common sources of salmonella food poisoning. Salmonella typhimurium is considered a year-round problem because it's found in meat and eggs, unlike some other types associated with vegetables that causes illnesses more seasonally.

Peanut Corp. of America said none of the peanut butter being recalled is sold through retail stores, but is made for distribution to institutions, food service industries and private label food companies. The peanut butter is sold under the brand name Parnell's Pride and by the King Nut Co. as King Nut.

FDA compliance officer Sandra Williams said Kellogg's move is known as a stop-sale order and isn't as serious as a recall. Neither Williams nor a Kellogg spokesman could say how many units would be pulled, but Williams said, "It's a very large volume."

Kellogg spokeswoman Kris Charles said Thursday morning that the company is not concerned about any other products, like cookies that contain peanut butter or peanut paste, because they do not use products from Peanut Corp. or America in their production and do not make them at the same plant.

Nationally, all the illnesses began between Sept. 3 and Dec. 29, but most were sickened after Oct. 1. Most people develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.

The peanut butter contamination comes almost two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which was eventually linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.

From SouthtownStar wires
A Will county resident is now listed among five Illinois cases genetically linked to an ongoing salmonella outbreak involving at least 43 states.

Peanut butter is a likely source of Salmonella typhimurium infection identified in at least 435 people across the U.S. between Sept. 1 and Jan. 6. The national case count includes a Will County resident who reported illness in December.

The Will County Health Department investigated five cases of Salmonella typhimurium between Sept. 1 and Jan. 1, but only one of the cases has been genetically linked to the national outbreak. Most of the national cases have been identified since Oct. 1, and at least five fatalities are potentially involved. The Will County case was not hospitalized and has fully recovered.

Kellogg Co. has asked stores to stop selling its peanut butter sandwich crackers until the food maker can figure out if the peanut paste is contaminated.

Kellogg gets at least some of its paste from Lynchburg, Va.-based Peanut Corp. of America, which has recalled 21 lots of peanut butter made since July 1 at its plant in Blakely, Ga., because of possible contamination from the bacteria. While not going so far as issuing a recall, Kellogg asked stores nationwide to remove the crackers sold under its Austin and Keebler brands and urged consumers not to eat those products until regulators have completed an investigation into Peanut Corp.

Kellogg, based in Battle Creek, Mich., said it hasn't found problems or received complaints about those products.

"We are taking these voluntary actions out of an abundance of caution," Kellogg CEO David Mackay said in a news release.

The products being removed include Austin and Keebler toasted peanut butter sandwich crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwich crackers, cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers, and peanut butter-chocolate sandwich crackers.

Peanut Corp. also sells bulk supplies to institutions including schools, nursing homes and hospitals.

Health officials in Minnesota and Virginia have linked two deaths each to the outbreak and Idaho has reported one.

All five were adults who had salmonella when they died, though their causes of death haven't been determined. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak may have contributed.

(CNN) -- The company that produced the peanut butter linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak said late Tuesday that it was voluntarily recalling all products made in its Blakely, Georgia, plant.


Salmonella bacteria are transmitted to humans by eating contaminated foods.

The Peanut Corporation of America, a peanut processing company, made the peanut butter sold by King Nut company.

Health officials in Minnesota have said that salmonella they linked to an open container of King Nut peanut butter was the same strain of bacteria responsible for the apparently ongoing outbreak, which has infected at least 434 people in 43 states.

However, the King Nut product is unlikely to be responsible for the entire outbreak, since it distributes its peanut butter only to food service companies in just seven states: Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho and New Hampshire.

So, the Peanut Corporation of America said it was voluntarily recalling all peanut butter produced in its Blakely plant "out of an abundance of caution." Some of it is distributed to another company. What you need to know about food poisoning »

"We deeply regret that this has happened," company president Stewart Parnell said.

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Over the past few days, Food and Drug Administration inspectors visited the Blakely plant, where they took hundreds of samples for testing, Parnell said.

The salmonella outbreak has been spreading across much of the country since September.

Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium played a role in the deaths of an elderly person from southwestern Virginia and an adult from northern Virginia. The third death was a nursing home resident in her 70s in Minnesota. All three of the patients who died had underlying illnesses that could have contributed to their deaths, state officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a written statement, has called peanut butter "a likely source" of the infections. But it said that no association had been found with common brand names of peanut butter sold in grocery stores.

The first cases of salmonella were reported September 3, but most occurred between October 1 and January 6, the CDC said. About 18 percent of cases were hospitalized as a result of their illness, and patients have ranged from 2 months to 98 years of age.


CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell said a preliminary analysis suggests peanut butter as a likely source of the outbreak. No cases connected to the outbreak have been reported in Montana, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida or Alaska.

Very young people, older people and those with compromised immune systems are most vulnerable to severe side effects of salmonella infection, including death, health officials have said.