Blog

Salmonella Strain In King Nut Peanut Butter Found In Connecticut - Genetically Matches The Strain Implicated In The Nationwide Illness Outbreak

Connecticut officials have announced that genetic testing on a 5-lb unopened tub of King Nut peanut butter has produced the first independently confirmed genetic match for the salmonella strain responsible for the 2009 nationwide outbreak. This finding definitively links the peanut butter sample implicated in the recent outbreak back to the manufacturer, Peanut Corporation of America.  Salmonella was found previously in an open five-pound tub of King Nut peanut butter in Minnesota. Connecticut's finding, in an unopened tub of peanut butter, is the first sample linking the contamination directly back to the manufacturer.  Peanut Corporation of America sells King Nut peanut butter -- through various distributors -- only to food service and food processor accounts. It is not sold directly to consumers. King Nut does not supply any of the ingredients for the peanut butter distributed under its label.

FDA has posted on its website a searchable list of products and brands associated with the expanded PCA recall at: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm . The list is updated as additional sub-recalls occur and as more information is received from the industry. Consumers are encouraged to first visit FDA's website to learn which commercially-prepared or manufactured peanut butter/peanut paste-containing products are subject to recall. If consumers cannot determine if a certain prepared product contains peanut butter or peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America, the FDA urges that they not consume those products.

The lawyers at Berger & Lagnese have led the way in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania in food poisoning lawsuits. If you suspect that you contracted your food poisoning from tainted food that you purchased at a grocery store, you should contact the lawyers at Berger & Lagnese immediately for a free consultation.