Peanut Butter Made in Lynchburg May Be Source of Outbreak
By Michael Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a link yesterday between peanut butter and a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 400 people in 43 states. Two people in Virginia and one in Minnesota who died recently were found to have the bacterial infection, but health officials cautioned that it was not clear whether the infection was the cause of death or whether any of the dead had eaten peanut butter.
Phil Giaramita, a state Department of Health spokesman, said those who died in Virginia were adults in the western part of the state. Five cases of salmonella infection have been reported in Virginia since the weekend, bringing the total in the outbreak to 17, but it was not clear whether the five were recent. The other 12 were diagnosed Dec. 13 or earlier.
A Minnesota nursing home resident in her 70s died after contracting the illness, according to state health officials, but it was not clear whether salmonella was the direct cause of death.
Maryland Department of Health spokesman John Hammond said the state has received reports of seven cases of salmonella infection with a matching genetic strain, but nothing in recent days.
"It is a complex, widespread outbreak," said Lola Russell, a CDC spokeswoman.
Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools and restaurants to throw away containers of peanut butter that have been linked to the 43-state salmonella outbreak. The peanut butter, manufactured by Lynchburg-based Peanut Corp. of America and distributed by King Nut Cos. of Solon, Ohio, was recalled by the distributor Sunday. It was distributed to food-service providers and not sold directly to consumers.
King Nut has challenged the link to its peanut butter, saying that it could not have been the source of a nationwide outbreak because it only does business in seven states.
Minnesota officials found a match this weekend between samples from an open King Nut container and the strain of salmonella bacteria that has made people sick nationwide. And a Minnesota health department spokesman said that all of the patients in that state had consumed peanut butter, with most eating the same brand.
King Nut raised the possibility that the salmonella had come from another source because it had been found in an open container, not a sealed one.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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