Personal Injury Law

Salmonella recovered from King Nut peanut butter by MDA lab found to be a genetic match to cases in national Salmonella outbreak

By Marler Clark LLP

 Our thanks go out to the Minnesota Department of Health for the contents of this 1,300th Salmonella blog entry:

The Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health today announced that laboratory analyses have confirmed a genetic match between the strains of Salmonella bacteria found in a container of King Nut brand creamy peanut butter and the strains of bacteria associated with 30 illnesses in Minnesota and nearly 400 illnesses around the country.

MDA lab tests conducted last week discovered Salmonella bacteria in a 5-pound package of King Nut peanut butter collected from a long-term care facility associated with one of the reported illnesses.  The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) issued a product advisory on Friday alerting institutions that may have received the product. MDA and MDH scientists performed additional testing this weekend to verify the connection between the contaminated product and the illnesses. 

State officials initially discovered the contaminated product through product testing conducted after MDH epidemiological evidence and an investigation by the Rapid Response Team implicated King Nut creamy peanut butter as a likely source of Salmonella infections in Minnesota residents. In the product advisory issued Friday, state officials urged establishments who may have the product on hand to avoid serving it, pending further instructions as the investigation progresses.

For more, go here.

MDA is holding a press conference at 3:30 p.m. Central Time.

Full post as published by Salmonella Blog on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).