Peanut butter recall highlights food-safety challenges

The latest warning on salmonella comes from the sandwich aisle — this time it's peanut butter that has been recalled. The warning serves as yet another reminder of the gaps in our food-safety infrastructure. Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, has long promoted the creation of a single agency to oversee the nation's food supply, and we continue to do so. "A single food agency with enhanced powers could conduct more systematic inspections, would have authority to recall hazardous food products, could conduct enforcement actions against violators, and could allow for tracing of hazardous food products back to plants or suppliers,"  said Sally Greenberg, Senior Counsel at Consumers Union. "One food agency with strong powers would be better positioned to prevent problems like the recent salmonella outbreak in peanut butter." 

Fortunately, Congress may finally be moving in that direction. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) are working to revive the Safe Food Act, a long-delayed bill that would establish a single food agency with enhanced powers, to replace the patchwork system of 15 agencies administering at least 30 laws, all having some piece of the regulation of food safety. "Consumers Union supports this legislation and looks forward to working with its sponsors to see it enacted into law," said Greenberg. 

In the meantime, consumers should check their cupboards for any jars of Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter that have a code on the lid starting with 2111. If you have them, stop using them immediately and contact the manufacturer, ConAgra, at 866-344-6970. More information is also available on ConAgra's web site.

Update: The FDA has advised consumers not to eat any Peter Pan peanut butter purchased since May 2006 and not to eat Great Value peanut butter with a product code beginning with "2111" purchased since May 2006 because of risk of contamination with Salmonella Tennessee. All Peter Pan peanut butter purchased since May 2006 is affected; only those jars of Great Value peanut butter purchased since May 2006 with a product code beginning with "2111” are affected. More information is available at the FDA web site.