The J.M. Smucker Company has recalled several Jif peanut butter products sold in the United States and Canada because of potential salmonella contamination that federal regulators said has been tied to 14 illnesses.
In a statement posted Friday on the federal Food and Drug Administration’s website, the company encouraged consumers who bought the potentially contaminated products to immediately dispose of them.
The products listed include several types of creamy, crunchy, reduced-fat and natural peanut butter products in various sizes, as well as a 40-ounce jar of natural honey.
The Smucker Company said it was “coordinating a thorough investigation” with the F.D.A. The recalled items were sold nationwide.
Salmonella is a bacteria that can grow in foods and, when ingested, can cause fever, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. In young children, older people or those with weakened immune systems, the infection can be more serious, and potentially fatal.
The F.D.A. said salmonella cases connected to the peanut butter had been reported in a dozen states as of Sunday. Two people had been hospitalized, it said.
The agency said that epidemiologic evidence indicated that Jif brand peanut butter produced at the Smucker Company facility in Lexington, Ky., was “the likely cause of illnesses in this outbreak.”
The recall affects Jif brand peanut butter products with lot code numbers 1274425 through 2140425, with the digits ending with 425. The lot numbers are included alongside the best-if-used-by date.
Every month, the F.D.A. announces the recall of several products — some over cross-contamination with allergens, others because “foreign materials,” such as metal, have been found in food, and sometimes over bacterial contamination.
In October, hundreds of people across the United States were sickened in a salmonella outbreak linked to imported red, white and yellow onions. Last summer, 31 people were sickened after eating hydroponic lettuce.
Source: The New York Times
