The FDA confirmed today that the multistate outbreak of Salmonella Bredeney infections is definitively linked to Sunland peanut butter products. The government found Salmonella Bredeney in raw peanuts at the peanut processing facility. They also found the outbreak strain of the bacteria in environmental samples taken from the facility.
Thirty-five people in 19 states are ill in this outbreak. Eight of the patients have been hospitalized. Sixty-three percent of the ill persons are children under the age of 10 years. Testing conducted by the Washington State Department of Agriculture found the outbreak strain of Salmonella Bredeney in an opened jar of Trader Joe’s Valencia Creamy Peanut Butter from a patient’s home.
Attorney Fred Pritzker, who has filed lawsuits against corporations for exactly this type of outbreak, has called on Trader Joe’s and Sunland Inc. to pay medical bills incurred by patients sickened in this outbreak. “This outbreak will grow and more states will be included. People who are facing hospital bills simply because they ate peanut butter should not have to shoulder this burden.”
Sunland Inc. has ceased the production and distribution of all products from its nut butter facility and its peanut processing facility. You can see a list of all of the recalled products at the FDA site. Look at this list carefully. The recall was expanded yesterday to include raw and roasted shelled and in-shell nuts. This will undoubtedly trigger more derivative recalls, as the newly recalled nuts were sold to processing and manufacturing facilities that make peanut products.
If you have purchased any of these products, do not eat them. Discard them or return them to the place of purchase for a refund. And if you ate any of these products and are experiencing the symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning, including fever, diarrhea which may be bloody, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, see your doctor immediately.
