Source of Salmonella Outbreak Discovered

Here is a press release we just sent out:

Yesterday, officials in Minnesota detected the presence of Salmonella typhimurium in 5lb jars of King Nut peanut butter.  This strain of the bacteria is a genetic match to the one that has sickened nearly 400 people in 42 states.

More testing must be done, but officials from the Minnesota Department of Health say that the peanut butter is the likely source of the outbreak.

The peanut butter, which has now been recalled by King Nut, was 5-pound containers to food service companies that supply schools, hospitals and other institutions.

This report of peanut butter contamination comes almost two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which was eventually linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.

J. R. Whaley, an attorney with Neblett Beard and Arsenault,  has represented thousands of people sickened with salmonella from eating peanut butter in that litigation.

“We are seeing the same pattern emerge in this case as we did in the ConAgra case where salmonella was found in peanut butter.”

Eating food contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause abdominal cramping, diarrhea and fever.  Most recover within 4 to 7 days.  Whaley says that because King Nut peanut butter is sold primarily to nursing homes, hospitals and schools, most of the consumers of King Nut peanut butter were those who could be most severely impacted from salmonella poisoning.

“The very young and the very old suffer most severely from salmonella poisoning.   Most victims of salmonella poisoning recover within a few days but the elderly and kids oftentimes have a harder time.  We have represented a number of elderly people whose simple act of eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cost them months of healthy living and caused them to rack up thousands of dollars in medical bills.  It can be tragic.”