Whenever the Food and Drug Administration believes that a product is contaminated with a dangerous ingredient or bacteria, it typically issues a recall for that product. Recently, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention together issued such a recall on peanut butter and other nut butter products, popular grocery items in New Jersey. Listing 240 products as a potentially dangerous product, it is believed that they could be contaminated with salmonella.
The manufacturer, Sunland Inc., reportedly sold the potentially contaminated products to grocers across the country. The primary concern stems from 35 reported cases of salmonella in 19 states that were traced to Trader Joe’s branded Valencia Creamy Peanut Butter. The reason for the large-scale recall is due to all the products having been manufactured on the same machinery as the contaminated product.
The recalled product represents everything that was processed and distributed since March 2010. The recall also reflects the fact that this company has been cited for what have been termed “objectionable conditions” before. Officials are investigating the machinery and equipment. So far, it appears that the individuals who have reported illness in the current outbreak did so between June and September. Children seem to be the ones primarily affected. So far, no deaths have been reported.
Many of the recalled brands are labeled organic or all natural. They are sold mostly through stores such as Whole Foods Market, Target, Safeway7, Costco, Fresh & Easy, Harry and David, Sprouts, Heinen’s, Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., Giant Foods and some other stores.
When anyone in New Jersey is the victim of harm due to a potentially dangerous product, they owe it to themselves to know their rights. Producing safe products is the responsibility of the manufacturer. When that responsibility is not met and injury or illness results, the company should be held accountable. If the individual injured or made ill decides to file a product liability claim, the manufacturer may be found liable for damages resulting from the use of the dangerous product.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Problems found at peanut butter plant in 2010,” Mary Clare Jalonick, AP, Oct. 5, 2012
