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Peanut Butter Dog Treats Recalled Due to Salmonella

More health bars also recalled as outbreak widens

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 21, 2009

• 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 ...

The nationwide salmonella outbreak has now spread to peanut butter flavored dog treats.

PetSmart on Tuesday recalled seven of its Grreat Choice® Dog Biscuit products because they contain peanut paste made by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). That company is the focus of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) investigation into salmonella contamination of peanut butter and paste made at its Blakely, Georgia facility.

FDA officials say this salmonella outbreak has sickened more than 470 people in 43 states and may be linked to the deaths of six others.

PetSmart recalled the following Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits sold between Aug. 21, 2008 and Jan. 19, 2009:

• Small Assorted 32 oz., UPC 73725702900

• Small/Medium Assorted 4 lb., UPC 73725700601

• Small/Medium Assorted 8 lb., UPC 73725700605

• Small/Medium Assorted 10 lb., UPC 73725702755

• Large Assorted 8 lb., UPC 73725700638

• Extra Large Assorted 8 lb., UPC 73725700779

• Peanut Butter 4 lb., UPC 73725700766

The company has not received any reports of illnesses linked to these products and has removed them from its store shelves and Web site.

Consumers who bought these treats should not feed them to their pets and return them to the store for a full refund.

For more information about this action, consumer can contact PetSmart's Customer Service at 1-888-839-9638 or visit the company's Web site.

The salmonella outbreak has also prompted the recalls of peanut butter products made by three other companies. The companies said their products contain ingredients sourced by PCA.

The recalled products are:

• Peanut butter flavor Optimum Energy Bars made by Nature's Path Organic Foods of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The recalled products are marked with the BEST BEFORE DATE OF 01OCT09A and sold in 2 oz (56 g) individually wrap bar with UPC code of 0 58449 77715 1. The company has not received any reports of illnesses linked to these products. No other products made by Nature's Path are included in this action. Consumers should return the recalled energy bars to the store for a full refund. For more information, customers can call the company at 1-866-880-7284.

• 2-pound packages of Classic Breaks Peanut Butter Cookie Dough made by Country Maid Inc. The company distributed the recalled products nationwide — between October 6, 2008 and January 9, 2009 — through various fundraising groups. The product come in a 2 pound rectangular-shaped package with a white wrapper. The following lot numbers are included in this action: 26208, 26308, 29808, 33808, 36508. The company has not received any reports of illnesses linked to these products. No Country Maid or Classic Breaks products or flavors are included in this recall. Customers can contact the company at 1-888-460-6904 for a full refund. More information about the recall can be found on the company's www.classic-breaks.com Web site;

• Peanut Butter Cookies and Peanut Butter Bars made by Evening Rise Bread company. The company distributed the products in retail stores through Evening Rise Bread Co., McCall, Idaho; First Idaho Bank, McCall, Idaho; Roadhouse Java, New Meadows, Idaho; Mountain Java Coffee Shop, McCall, Idaho; Common Ground Coffee Shop, McCall, Idaho; and Moxy Java Coffee Shop, McCall, Idaho. The products are individually packaged in clear Cellophane bags and the label has a sticker with the Evening Rise name. The company has not received any reports of illnesses linked to these products. Customers can return the products for a full refund. For more information, consumers can call the company at 1-208-634-5031;

• Five varieties of celery and apples with peanut butter made by Ready Pac Foods. The company distributed the products to retailers in California, Utah, Illinois, Washington, Texas, New Jersey, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maryland. The products included in this action are: Ready Pac Cool Cuts Celery with Peanut Butter 12/6.75 oz, By Dates of 12/27/08 to 2/2/09 and UPC: 077745-22415-2; Trader Joe's Celery with Peanut Butter 12/6.75 oz, By Dates of 12/27/08 to 2/2/09 and UPC: 0048-5401; Trader Joe's Celery with Peanut Butter 30/6.75 oz, By Dates of 12/27/08 to 2/2/09 and UPC: 0048-5401; Eating Right Apples with Peanut Butter 12/6.75 oz, By Dates of 12/27/08 to 2/2/09 and UPC: 0-79893-70175-2, Eating Right Celery with Peanut Butter 12/6.75 oz By Dates of 12/27/08 to 2/2/09 and UPC: 0-79893-70172-1. The company has not received any reports of illnesses linked to these products. Consumers with questions can call Ready Pac at 1-800-800-7822.

• Peanut Butter Granola Bars made by NutriSystem Inc. The bars included in this action have lot codes TC08158A, TC08188A, TC09158A, TC09168A, TC09178A, TC11148A, and TC11178A. The company distributed these products directly to customers in the United States through its Web site or call center sales. The company's peanut butter granola bars sold in Canada are not included in this recall. NutriSystem has not received any reports of illnesses linked to these products and none of its other products are included in this action. The company said consumers should immediately discard the granola bars. For more information, contact NutriSystem at 1-866-491-6425 or check the company's Web site.

"I don't feel safe eating these anymore"

Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and those with compromised immune systems, according to the FDA. Symptoms include fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare cases, the organism can enter the bloodstream and cause more severe illnesses, including arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis, and arthritis.

Because the number of products potentially involved in this latest outbreak continues to grow, the FDA has urged consumers to "postpone eating commercially-prepared or manufactured peanut butter-containing products and institutionally-served peanut butter until further information becomes available about which products may be affected."

Some consumers, though, say that warning came too late.

A Rhode Island consumer told us she contacted the maker of Little Debbie snacks last week — a few days before the company recalled some of its peanut butter sandwich crackers.

"I was told that I could eat my eat my crackers and that there was no way they would be recalled because of the supplier," the consumer told us. "Well, today (Sunday) after eating some of the crackers and feeling secure in the knowledge that I was told they were safe, I get a recall notice from the FDA. Now I'm scared of getting sick and I did my part by asking before I ate them… I do not feel safe eating these items anymore because of how it's been handled."

Another consumer told us she became sick in late November after eating some of the peanut butter crackers now included in the nationwide recall. She's now worried that she ate some salmonella-tainted snacks.

"The week before Thanksgiving 2008 I ate several packages of the Austin PB and J crackers and the Great Value peanut butter on sandwiches," said Cheryl S. of Ames, Iowa. "The day before Thanksgiving I became violently ill with vomiting every half hour throughout the night. (I had) severe cramping, weakness, sweating, and diarrhea. I knew it wasn't just the flu because I had never been this sick before and it lasted a week. I missed Thanksgiving and work for a week and still had lingering problems after that."

She added: "I lost full time work for a week and could only work part time after that. I still suffer from daily headaches, fatigue, dizzy spells and am just not feeling right."

Girl Scout cookies safe — for now

One popular brand of cookies now being distributed across the country is not included in this recall action.

ConsumerAffairs.com has learned the company that makes Girl Scout cookies does not source its peanut butter ingredients from PCA or King Nut, another producer of potentially tainted peanut butter.

ABC Bakers of Richmond, Virginia, is the "Official Girl Scout Cookies Bakers." That company said its peanut butter supplier is Hampton Farms, which tests it peanut butter products before they are used in Girl Scout cookies.

The FDA has a complete list of all the products recalled in the salmonella outbreak on its Web site. Consumers can check that list to find out if their favorite products are included in this action.

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