Personal Injury Law

31,000,000 pounds of Peanut Butter Now Recalled

By Bill Marler, Esq.

From AP.  Stunning, just stunning.  I can not keep up with the FDA recall list.  So far, the Food and Drug Administration has listed 181 products recalled nationwide because they contain peanuts or peanut paste linked to a salmonella outbreak traced to the Peanut Corporation of America.  More than 50 new products were added to the list today.

If this does not catch President Obama's attention, I do not know what will.  Hey, Mr. President, call me, I'll work for peanuts.  From my friends at obamafoodorama - a clear perspective:

If every man, woman, and child who packed the National Mall on Obama's Inauguration Day had carried fifteen pounds of peanut butter in their prohibited backpacks, that would be about the amount of poisoned product that's currently been recalled for Salmonella Typhimurium.

New numbers from the CDC - 488 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 43 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (1), Arizona (10), Arkansas (4), California (62), Colorado (12), Connecticut (9), Georgia (6), Hawaii (3), Idaho (11), Illinois (5), Indiana (4), Iowa (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (3), Maine (4), Maryland (8), Massachusetts (42), Michigan (25), Minnesota (35), Missouri (9), Mississippi (3), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (11), New Jersey (19), New York (18), Nevada (5), North Carolina (6), North Dakota (10), Ohio (65), Oklahoma (2), Oregon (7), Pennsylvania (14), Rhode Island (4), South Dakota (2), Tennessee (9), Texas (6), Utah (5), Vermont (4), Virginia (20), Washington (13), West Virginia (2), Wisconsin (3), and Wyoming (2). Additionally, one ill person was reported from Canada.  Among the persons with confirmed, reported dates available, illnesses began between September 8, 2008 and January 8, 2009. Patients range in age from <1 to 98 years; 48% are female. Among persons with available information, 22% reported being hospitalized. Infection may have contributed to six deaths.

Please note - actual ill likely as high as 18,837:  "Overall, we estimated that there were 38.6 cases of Salmonella for each culture?confirmed case.  "FoodNet Estimate of the Burden of Illness Caused by Nontyphoidal Salmonella Infections in the United States"  Clinical Infectious Diseases, April 2004.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on January 22, 2009 (boomark / email).