Salmonella Contamination in Peanut Butter

by Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., Extension Specialist in Food Science

The country is in the midst of its second large outbreak associated with peanut butter. What we know changes almost daily as the facts of the outbreak unfold. Here is what we know for sure:

  • The combined efforts of state officials in Minnesota and Connecticut, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have confirmed that the outbreak of food poisoning caused by Salmonella has been linked to peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant.
  • Neither this peanut butter nor the peanut paste is sold directly to consumers in supermarkets. The potentially contaminated product has been sold for use as an ingredient in hundreds of different products, such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream. Companies all over the country that received product from PCA have issued voluntary recalls of their products.

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Updated: Jan. 27, 2009


  1. Rutgers
  2. Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources
  3. School of Environmental and Biological Sciences