Complain about a product or service

Consumers Left Holding the Peanut Butter Jar

Government Agencies, Corporate Interests Duck and Weave

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 5, 2007

• Complete List of Recalled Products --- • Texas Fines Peanut Plant $14.6 Million For Violations • Lawmakers Chastise Food Executives Over Salmonella Outbreak • Source of Salmonella Contamination in Peanut Butter May Be Found • More Pet Foods Added to Salmonella Recall • Peanut Recall Expanded To "All Ingredients" • Peanut Corporation of America Files for Bankruptcy • PCA Shuts Second Peanut Plant In Salmonella Scare • Peanut Butter Recall Claims Still More Products • Ice Cream, Cookies, Donuts Join the Massive Peanut Butter Recall List • Peanut Recall Expands as Feds Release Findings • Congresswoman Demands Peanut Probe • Feds: Peanut Corporation Knew of Salmonella Problem • Dozens More Peanut Butter Products Recalled • NutriSystem Joins Peanut Butter Recall • Peanut Butter Dog Treats Recalled Due to Salmonella • Peanut Butter Health Bars Recalled • Peanut Butter Recall List Grows • Peanut Butter Recall Spreads To More Products • Kellogg Puts Peanut Butter Crackers "On Hold" Due to Salmonella Concerns • Peanut Butter Recalled Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination • King Nut Issues Peanut Butter Recall • Consumer Complaints about Peanut Butter --- Earlier stories • Judge Nixes Peanut Butter Class Action • FDA Failed to Follow Up on 2004 Peanut Butter Contamination • Peter Pan Returning To Store Shelves • Consumers Still Getting Sick From Tainted Peanut Butter • Fourth Peanut Butter Death Reported • Peanut Butter Recall Extended to Products Made as Early as 2004 • Peanut Butter Scare Stirs Congress • Consumers Left Holding the Peanut Butter Jar • Earlier Peanut Butter Contamination Kept Quiet • Peanut Butter Developed as a Health Food • Third Death Blamed on Peanut Butter • Peanut Butter Recalls Spread to Ice Cream & Desserts • FDA Says Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak Is "Ongoing" • Salmonella Confirmed in Peanut Butter • Second Death Linked To Tainted Peanut Butter • Death Linked To Tainted Peanut Butter • ConAgra Recalls Tainted Peanut Butter as Complaints Mount • FDA Widens Peanut Butter Warning • Reports of Peanut Butter-Borne Illness Increase • FDA Warns of Salmonella in Peanut Butter --- • Consumer Complaints about Peanut Butter --- • Salmonella: What It Is • More about Food Safety ...

Mary Halstead, 85, liked peanut butter.

When Mrs. Halstead, of Weston, W. Va., fell ill with diarrhea and vomiting on December 23 after having a peanut butter sandwich. Her condition worsened and she was admitted to Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital, where the menu did not include peanut butter.

Mrs. Halstead developed pneumonia and congestive heart failure but still she told her son Larry she yearned for peanut butter.

"So, dumb old me, I made her a peanut butter sandwich at home and brought it to her at the hospital, because it was just about the only thing she wanted to eat," Larry Halstead said. "In no time, she got just 100% worse." Halstead said his mother then became semi-comatose and died on January 10.

When Larry Halstead heard of the recall of ConAgra's Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter, he became suspicious and looked at the Peter Pan jar in his mother's cupboard. Sure enough, it bore the telltale "2111" serial number.

"Her doctors didn't ever test her for Salmonella because nobody had heard anything about any of this at the time," Halstead told ConsumerAffairs.com. "Her doctor said he couldn't figure out why the antibiotics they gave her weren't working."

"The death certificate says she died of congestive heart failure due to complications of pneumonia but she died of eating peanut butter," Halstead said. "She was in good health for her age until this all started."

Halstead said his mother "suffered something awful" during her last days and said he is considering taking legal action.

Mrs. Halstead is one of at least three elderly people whose deaths their families attribute to Salmonella-infested peanut butter. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, more were sickened. Many were unable to work for days or weeks. They lost wages and spent money on doctors and hospitals.

Most of those killed and made ill will likely never be included in any official total, since most consumers either did not seek medical care or were misdiagnosed. As of Saturday, March 3, 163 consumers had filed complaints with ConsumerAffairs.com, many of them recounting illnesses suffered by multiple family members. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at last word had counted 288 confirmed cases.

"My daughter was sick off and on for two months with vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps and we had the 2111 peanut butter," said Candy of Odum, Ga., in a complaint to ConsumerAffairs.com. "I called the health department as instructed but they would not test the peanut butter, saying it had to be a lab-confirmed case of food poisoning.

"I was told to call their 800 number and was told they would do nothing but throw out the peanut butter," Candy said. "My daughter was very sick and went to two doctors and many tests with no results costing thousands of dollars and she missed a lot of school and is behind."

Making Matters Worse

Some consumers who fell ill, like Mrs. Halstead, looked to their old friend and comfort food -- peanut butter -- to see them through the crisis.

Jonette of Tampa, Fla., a university faculty member, struggled for weeks with severe intestinal symptoms. She ate a diet of bread and low-fat peanut butter, hoping to find relief. Finally, the recall was announced.

"I immediately stopped eating the peanut butter, which I had been eating for over a week, trying to cure my gastric distress," Jonette said. "I felt like such a fool for thinking it would help me! All the time it was that very product that was prolonging my illness."

But at least ConAgra wants to make it right. The company announced it "has authorized retailers to accept returns of open or unopened jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter or Great Value Peanut Butter marked with a product code beginning with 2111 for a full refund."

That's not much comfort to Beth of Dimmitt, Texas, who not only became ill but also missed a Dallas Cowboys game.

"I ate a peanut butter sandwich and then became sick several hours later. That was Thanksgiving, so I missed having dinner with my relatives and could not attend the Dallas Cowboy Game ... which I already had tickets for," she said. "I was so sick that I thought I would be hospitalized as I couldn't even hold water or ice down ... This was the sickest I had ever been in my life."

For those interested in recovering the dollar or two they spent on the peanut butter that could have killed them, they can return the product to the store where they bought it or mail the lid and label to ConAgra Foods, P.O. Box 3768, Omaha, NE 68103.

With a bit of understatement, ConAgra added this request to the refund instructions on its Web site: "We ask that you wash the lids before sending them through the mail." Can't be too careful, after all.

Of course, it's no longer just creamy and crunchy peanut butter you need to watch out for. Ice cream and milkshake vendors Sonic and Carvel are recalling treats that contain ConAgra peanut butter.

What To Do

So, what can consumers do if they became sick from what they suspect was contaminated peanut butter, other than apply for that generous refund from ConAgra?

Well, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends you discard the jar of infected peanut butter and kieep the lid, even if you don't plan to go after the refund. You could show it to your grandchildren someday. Or you could use it as evidence in a personal injury or class-action lawsuit against ConAgra.

However, attorneys dispute the FDA's advice. They advise that, if consumers were seriously harmed by their illness, they should seal the lid and jar in a plastic bag and store it out of the reach of children or others in the household, so that it is available as evidence. Also, be sure to save all medical records, doctor bills and other written evidence.

But, while a few lawsuits seeking class action status have been filed, one experienced consumer attorney who asked not to be identified expressed doubt such actions would be successful.

"The vast majority of suits will be individual actions. A class suit would be difficult to certify," he said. "There are just too many individual issues."

Other experienced attorneys noted that individual personal-injury cases are far too expensive to pursue unless there is severe personal injury, loss of future earning capacity, or death.

Consumers can file in Small Claims Court to seek reimbursement for their actual, out-of-pocket expenses and lost wages. Pain and suffering damages are generally not allowed in such cases.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

But at least the government will crack down on those responsible for this and other contaminated food incidents and make sure it doesn't happen again, right?

Well, maybe. The FDA and the CDC have been the targets of Congressional prodding after taking seven months to recall a product that had been making people sick throughout that entire period.

"Given that the first consumer became ill in August 2006 and that the first warning was not issued until now demonstrates the complexities involved in trying to identify the source of this salmonella outbreak," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said February 15 in a prepared statement.

"While the company impacted has ceased production at the processing plant until an exact cause could be determined, I am disturbed that all the FDA could do in this situation is issue a warning and send investigators to the processing facility," DeLauro said.

What the epidemic seemed to highlight more than anything was the nation's fractured food safety network. Democrats in Congress are now inspecting the inspectors and many are suggesting that the 15 agencies that currently oversee food safety are not getting the job done.

"The American people need an FDA with the authority to establish strong standards and the necessary enforcement mechanisms to help prevent or minimize future outbreaks," DeLauro said.

The FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) share most of the responsibilities along with 13 other agencies. This food safety "patchwork" yields a lot of overlap and porous regulation, according to the report.

"The patchwork nature of the federal oversight of food safety calls into question whether the government can plan more strategically to inspect food production processes, identify and react more quickly to any outbreaks of contaminated food, and focus on achieving results to promote the safety and integrity of the nation's food supply," according to the GAO report.

As a result of that report and the recent outbreaks some Congressional Democrats are calling for a single agency to have oversight of all food safety. Republicans are generally remaining silent on the issue or defending food producers and claiming the nation's food safety record is good.

A day after the FDA announced the outbreak, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and DeLauro introduced legislation to put all food safety responsibilities under a single new Food Safety Administrator. That legislation, the Safe Food Act, also would modernize the 100-year-old food safety laws, and give the new chief a unified budget.

"It makes no sense to have one agency regulate chickens and another regulate eggs, or to have one agency regulate cows and another to regulate milk," Center For Science in the Public Interest food safety staff attorney Ken Kelly said. "When one cabinet secretary is responsible for pepperoni pizza and another is responsible for cheese pizza, you know something's wrong."

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.