The operations of local peanut butter manufacturers are to come under closer scrutiny by the Food and Drug Department following the detection of the foodborne illness in several varieties of Peter Pan peanut butter imported from the United States.
Director of the Food and Drug Department Carol Collins told Stabroek Business earlier this week that the decision had been taken purely as a precaution since the disclosure that the imported nut butter had been contaminated with salmonella had come as ‘something of a surprise” to the Department.
Ms. Collins told Stabroek Business that salmonella is commonly associated with meat products and that confirmation of the discovery of the disease in nut butter had persuaded the Department to run tests on locally manufactured brands. On February 14 last Con Agra Foods, a Nebraska-based company announced that it was withdrawing all varieties of Peter Pan nut butter beginning with the batch bearing the product code 2111 following a report by the United States Center for Disease Control and Preven-tion (FDA) that these products may be linked to salmonella. Ms. Collins told Stabroek Business that the local distributor for Peter Pan, Toucan Industries Inc., was collaborating with the department and that thirty six cartons of the product had so far been withdrawn from the market.
She explained that the collaborative exercise designed to rid the local market of the product was ongoing and that the manufacturers had already assured the local distributor that full refunds will be made based on the withdrawal of all of the product bought by retailers and consumers.
According to Ms. Collins the Department is aware of persons who have already bought and consumed an unspecified quantity of the product ordered withdrawn by Con Agra Foods. She said, however, that the Department’s investigations had found no consumer that had been made ill after consuming the product. Collins explained that the salmonella alert did not necessarily mean that the entire batch of the product had been contaminated by the foodborne disease.
While the Con Agra release said that none of its own “extensive product tests” have indicated the presence of salmonella in the product Ms. Collins said that the Food and Drug Department is in the process of conducting its own tests on the product.
