Sunland Inc. further expanded its ongoing recall of all products made at its Peanut Butter Plant on fears the products may have been contaminated with Salmonella.
The expanded recall includes all products made in its Peanut Butter Plant after March 1, 2010. The company earlier warned consumers to avoid using one-hundred one peanut butter products made between May 1, 2012 and September 24, 2012.
The expanded recall adds forty-nine products currently within the manufacturer's recommended shelf-life and also adds ninety products consumers may have in their homes which are older than the "Best-If-Used-By Date."
The expanded recall covers all previously identified Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Cashew Butter, and Tahini products as well as Roasted Blanched Peanut Products. New product categories added to the recall list include varieties of flavored butters and spreads, such as Thai Ginger Butter, Chocolate Butter and Banana Butter.
The products added to the recall have not been associated with any reported illness to date.
For further details about the products on the expanded recall list, consumers are advised to access the FDA Website: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm322747.htm
Sunland initiated the recall on September 24, 2012, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established that between June 11, 2012 and September 2, 2012, twenty-nine people reported Salmonella Bredeney PFGE matching illnesses in about eighteen states.
As of September 25, 2012, the CDC reported a total of thirty illnesses in nineteen states, including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
The products were distributed under the Sunland's own label and under other brand names, and distributed nationally to supermarkets, grocery and retail chains, as well as online sales.
The company has advised all products with "Best-If-Used-By" dates of March 1, 2011 or later should be returned or discarded.
Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
In rare cases, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis and arthritis. Symptoms of Salmonella infection include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.
by RTT Staff Writer
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