|
Nick, 7, makes a peanut butter sandwich
to go in his lunch.
AP Images
to go in his lunch.
AP Images
ill PB&J's become just jelly? Investigators recently discovered that certain batches of peanut butter from the brands Peter Pan and Great Value were infected with a bacteria called salmonella. Three hundred people in 39 states have become sick after eating peanut butter from those brands. About 25 percent of those infected were kids and teens.
This is the first case of salmonella found in U.S. peanut butter. Salmonella bacteria can be transmitted to humans from animals or raw foods such as eggs. The salmonella virus can cause symptoms that are similar to stomach flu.
Scientist Michael Lynch, of the Centers for Disease Control, is studying the outbreak and trying to figure out how the peanut butter became contaminated. "Peanuts can actually have salmonella in them naturally, but roasting [the peanuts to make peanut butter] kills the salmonella," he told Weekly Reader. "It was more likely that something happened after the roasting," he said. Last week, scientists visited the peanut butter plant where the tainted peanut butter was produced. They were looking for ways that the salmonella could have gotten into the jars. The plant is currently shut down as scientists continue to do testing.
More people have become sick from the infected peanut butter than from last fall's spinach scare. In that case, bagged spinach was infected with E coli, another type of bacteria.
Peanut butter: To eat or not to eat?
Do you have to give up peanut butter until scientists solve the mystery? According to Lynch, there's no need to go nuts. "It should not be a problem to keep eating peanut butter," he said. Grocery stores have been pulling any peanut butter that might be affected off of the shelves. That peanut butter has the product code 2111 on the label. "You can't tell by looking at it or smelling it," Lynch said. He advises people to throw out any peanut butter if they see the 2111 code on the jar. "If they have already been eating it and didn't get sick, there is no need to go to the doctor, but they should throw away the jar anyway," he said. Otherwise, it's still okay to enjoy PB&J.
Learn more about how peanut butter is made at www.peanutbutterlovers.com
To learn more about salmonella and to solve an outbreak mystery, click here.
Beat the heat in this Global Warming Word Search!
This is the first case of salmonella found in U.S. peanut butter. Salmonella bacteria can be transmitted to humans from animals or raw foods such as eggs. The salmonella virus can cause symptoms that are similar to stomach flu.
Scientist Michael Lynch, of the Centers for Disease Control, is studying the outbreak and trying to figure out how the peanut butter became contaminated. "Peanuts can actually have salmonella in them naturally, but roasting [the peanuts to make peanut butter] kills the salmonella," he told Weekly Reader. "It was more likely that something happened after the roasting," he said. Last week, scientists visited the peanut butter plant where the tainted peanut butter was produced. They were looking for ways that the salmonella could have gotten into the jars. The plant is currently shut down as scientists continue to do testing.
More people have become sick from the infected peanut butter than from last fall's spinach scare. In that case, bagged spinach was infected with E coli, another type of bacteria.
Peanut butter: To eat or not to eat?
Do you have to give up peanut butter until scientists solve the mystery? According to Lynch, there's no need to go nuts. "It should not be a problem to keep eating peanut butter," he said. Grocery stores have been pulling any peanut butter that might be affected off of the shelves. That peanut butter has the product code 2111 on the label. "You can't tell by looking at it or smelling it," Lynch said. He advises people to throw out any peanut butter if they see the 2111 code on the jar. "If they have already been eating it and didn't get sick, there is no need to go to the doctor, but they should throw away the jar anyway," he said. Otherwise, it's still okay to enjoy PB&J.
|
Links
|
|
 |
Add to del.icio.us |  Subscribe Now |
RSS