Salmonella Outbreak: What You Need to Know

Older men and women, along with children and those with compromised immune systems, are especially vulnerable to salmonella infection, and health officials say they should be particularly careful about what they eat now, as investigators are still identifying growing numbers of foods made with peanut products contaminated by the dangerous bacteria.

This latest salmonella outbreak, linked to nine deaths, has sickened 642 people in 44 states since it began in September, with the most recent confirmed case reported Jan. 28.

About 17 percent of those affected were 59 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, and all nine deaths occurred in that age group. Half the victims of the illness were children.

The source of the outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium, federal officials report, is tainted peanut butter and peanut paste made in a Georgia processing plant and distributed to some of the largest food companies in the country, including General Mills, the Kellogg Company, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and McKee Foods, makers of Little Debbie snacks.

The FDA points out that major-label peanut butter is considered safe to eat at this time, and the makers of several national brands, including Peter Pan, Jif and Smuckers, have announced that their products are not suspected of salmonella contamination. The Girl Scouts of the USA, the Hershey Co. and Kraft Foods say their products are also safe. But the recall does include supersized containers of peanut butter sold to institutions, including schools and nursing homes.

The contaminated peanut products, while not sold directly to consumers, were used as ingredients in hundreds of foods, such as cereals, crackers, cookies, ice cream, energy and diet bars, and even dog biscuits.

As the exhaustive national investigation of the salmonella poisonings continues to unfold, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) list of food recalls continues to grow and now includes some 400 food products.

The agency has created a website, frequently updated, where consumers can see which products are subject to recall.

“We urge consumers to check FDA’s website to determine which products have been recalled and will be recalled in the coming days,” Stephen Sundlof, the FDA’s director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said at a press conference yesterday.

At that press conference, officials said that the Peanut Corp. of America, which owns the Blakely, Ga., plant where the salmonella contamination occurred, is now expanding its recall, which focused on peanut butter and paste manufactured from July 2008, to include all peanut products processed there since January 2007. That includes all peanuts, granulated peanuts and peanut meal processed by the plant.

The expanded recall came after the company’s internal tests, which had not previously been disclosed to the FDA, and other government tests showed other strains of salmonella in the plant, though federal officials said those strains were not responsible for the current outbreak of illness.

Any product on the FDA recall list, Sundlof said, should be disposed of safely, and anyone handling one of these products should wash his or her hands thoroughly.

If consumers are not sure whether a product containing peanuts or peanut products may be contaminated, “they should avoid consuming it or feeding it to their pet until the expanded recall is complete,” he said.

Consumers may also call the CDC information hotline at 1-800-232-4636 to check the safety of their peanut-laced foods.

The CDC website also updates news on the salmonella investigation and offers recommendations and advice to consumers.

People infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness lasts four to seven days, the CDC says. Infants, older people and those with immune problems are more likely to develop severe illness, which may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and other sites, and cause death if not treated with antibiotics. Salmonella can also be transferred to people handling contaminated pet treats.

Barbara Basler is a senior editor at the AARP Bulletin.