20 Jan - The Food Standards Agency is advising consumers not to eat recalled batches of certain American peanut butter products, following a salmonella outbreak in the United States.
The US authorities have so far reported 474 cases of illness from Salmonella Typhimurium in 43 US states. One case of illness has also been reported in Canada. US officials are currently investigating the source, but the outbreak is thought to be linked to peanut butter products.
As a precautionary measure, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recalled a range of peanut butter and paste products. A list of recalled products is available on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has also published a list of recalled products.
Currently, there is no indication of any cases of illness in the UK linked to the American outbreak, although monitoring continues. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a Food Alert for Action and contacted local authorities to ensure that caterers, shops and manufacturers withdraw any affected products listed on the FDA and CFIA websites. Local authorities have also been asked to sample other similar American peanut butter products on sale in the UK to check for salmonella.
Consumers are advised not to eat the affected products and to check the FDA and CFIA websites for the list of foods.