Source: Xinhua

01-21-2009 08:55

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. food manufacturer Kellogg Co has announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed the presence of salmonella in a package of its peanut butter sandwich crackers Monday.

U.S. FDA confirms salmonella in Kellogg's crackers

The tainted item, Austin Quality Foods Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter, was one of the several snacks Kellogg had voluntarily recalled as a precaution after the FDA warned people not to eat products that contained peanut butter before it could determine the scope of an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning.

Kellogg last Friday recalled 16 products containing peanut butter after federal officials confirmed salmonella contamination at a Georgia-based plant of the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA), which supplies peanut butter products to manufacturers and institutions.

The outbreak has so far sickened more than 470 people in 43 states, with at least 90 of them having to be hospitalized, and may have caused the death of six others.

Another U.S. company, Abbott Nutrition, also announced Monday it was initiating a precautionary, voluntary recall of three varieties of peanut butter products, supported by the FDA's advisement to manufacturers of the ongoing salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter and peanut paste supplied by the PCA.

However, no salmonella contamination has been detected in the products recalled by the company.

Salmonella bacteria is the most common source of food poisoning in the United States, causing serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with it often experience fever, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, federal agencies responsible for the oversight of food products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FDA have been unable to pinpoint a source for the outbreak, which was first detected last September.

Editor:Yang Jie