Monday, January 12, 2009

Breaking News: Minnesota Confirms Outbreak Strain in Peanut Butter

January 12, 2009

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Department of Health announced late today that the strain of Salmonella isolated from an opened jar of King Nut peanut butter is a genetic match for the Salmonella Typhimurium that has sickened at least 399 people in 42 states.

State investigators obtained the 5-pound jar of peanut butter from the food service department of a long-term care facility in Minnesota. A resident of that facility is one of the victims of this outbreak. 

King Nut already had initiated a precautionary and voluntary recall of their peanut butter, which was manufactured for them by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Neither King Nut nor PCA has commented on this latest finding as yet.

Federal and state agencies are still working to find the outbreak strain in an unopened jar of the implicated peanut butter, in order to eliminate the remote possibility that the Minnesota finding might be due to cross-contamination in the food service kitchen.

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