Personal Injury Law

What Peanut Butter lovers Need to know about the Recent Salmonella Outbreak

By Jessica Smagacz

Have you recently eaten peanut butter? Was this peanut butter King Nut or Parnell's Pride? If yes, this post if for you.

This past weekend, Minnesota health officials discovered salmonella bacteria in a tub of peanut butter that was in a 5 pound container. The lot numbers came from King Nut Peanut Butter and Parnell’s Pride Peanut Butter and began with the number 8. These five pound containers were sold to larger institutions. The product was manufactured by the Peanut Corporation of America, a Georgia corporation.

Recently, there has been almost 400 reported cases of salmonella sicknesses in 42 states. The reports occurred September 2008 through December 2008; however, new cases are being reported each day because the peanut butter is still unknowingly being served to consumers.

The investigation is still going on as reports of salmonella poisoning continue to be reported.

Salmonella poisoning can become a dangerous sickness. If you have eaten peanut butter, look out for these symptoms of salmonella: Diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps.

These symptoms can last from 12 to 72 hours after a person is infected. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the salmonella infection is “usually diagnosed by culture of a stool sample.” The sickness usually lasts four to seven days. Salmonella can also spread from “the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other body sites and cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. In some cases, treatment is necessary.

If you or someone close to you has salmonella poisoning, you may want to contact the attorneys at Childers & Schlueter, LLP to see how they can help protect your legal rights.

See our past posts on further investigation into the salmonella outbreak: The Culprit to the Salmonella Outbreak--Peanut Corporation of America and King Nut Peanut Butter?; Shifting the Blame? Peanut Corporation’s Press release Concerning the Salmonella Outbreak; and Georgia part of the National Salmonella OUTBREAK.

Check out this link to see a picture of salmonella bacteria.

Full post as published by Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer on January 11, 2009 (boomark / email).