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Salmonella Found In Austin Peanut Butter Crackers

By PritzkerLaw

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found Salmonella bacteria in an unopened package of Austin Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter -- a grocery and vend item made by Kellogg Company.

Kellogg announced the finding and urged consumers to destroy the product, which was already under a recall because Peanut Corporation of America had been a supplier of peanut paste used to make Austin and Keebler snack crackers.

Peanut butter and peanut paste made by Peanut Corporation of America at its plant in Blakely, Georgia, is suspected of causing an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that has sickened more than 470 people in 43 states. The plant has been closed pending investigation and the company has announced a sweeping recall.

Kellogg had recalled its Keebler and Austin brand snack crackers containing peanut butter as a precaution. The FDA finding elevated the concern.

Six deaths have been associated with the outbreak, including that of Shirley Mae Almer of Perham, Minnesota. Fred Pritzker, a leading food safety lawyer, has prepared papers for a Salmonella wrongful death lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America on behalf of Mrs. Almer's heirs.

She died December 21, at age 72, after falling ill with a Samonella infection. Minnesota health officials matched her illness to bacteria in tub of peanut butter at Mrs. Almer's nursing home. The King Nut creamy peanut butter had been made by Peanut Corporation of America. A Minnesota state laboratory also matched the bacteria in the King Nut peanut butter tub to the same strain of Salmonella in the outbreak.

Pritzker Law is representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks all over the United States. Our law firm has a national reputation in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Lawyers in the firm have been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is keeping a list of products recalled due to the Salmonella threat. The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning consumers not to eat products containing peanut butter until a final list is completed or a food manufacturer reports that a specific product containing peanut butter or peanut paste is safe to eat. 

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on January 19, 2009 (boomark / email).