A peanut butter Salmonella outbreak has been linked to peanut butter made by nSpired Natural Foods and sold under brand names including Arrowhead Mills, MaraNathha, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Walmart , Safeway and Kroger and other stores, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Four people in four states have been sickened, one person has been hospitalized.
Health officials used pulsed field gel electrophoresis and whole genome sequencing tests to identify the outbreak strain, Salmonella Braenderup, in the four patients and in environmental samples collected from inspections at nSpired Natural Foods in January and July 2014.
The four case patients, from Connecticut, Iowa, Tennessee, and Texas, reported onset of illness dates ranging from January 22, 2014, to May 16, 2014. They range in age from 3 to 83. The median age is 36. Three of the four patients are female.
nSpired Foods has issued a recall for the products. To see a complete list click here. Consumers who have purchased any of the recalled products should not eat them as Salmonella causes illness that can be severe.
Symptoms of Salmonella poisoning usually develop within 12 to 72 hours of exposure and include diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramping, nausea, chills and headache. For some people, the diarrhea can be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. These patients are at risk for having the infection spread from their intestines to the blood stream which can be fatal without prompt antibiotic treatment. Children are at special risk. Anyone who has eaten the recalled product and has these symptoms should see a doctor.
