Dozens of Jif Peanut Butter Products Recalled Due to Potential Salmonella Contamination

JM Smucker announced on Friday that it is recalling about 50 different Jif peanut butter products “due to potential contamination.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a press release that the FDA is “investigating a 12-state Salmonella Senftenberg infection outbreak that it believes is related to certain Jif peanut butter products manufactured at the JM facility.” Smucker Company of Lexington, Kentucky. The investigation is being conducted in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local and state officials.

According to the FDA, 14 cases were reported during the outbreak in Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Two patients were hospitalized, none of them died.

“A review of CDC epidemiological information shows that five out of five people report eating peanut butter, and four out of five people specifically report eating different types of Jif brand peanut butter before getting sick,” the FDA said in a statement.

JM Smucker said that Jif’s potentially contaminated products are “distributed nationwide”. According to the FDA, products with “batch code numbers 1274425 through 2140425 if the first seven digits end in 425” will be subject to voluntary recalls. Batch code is next to best if used by expiration date for Jif products, and JM Smucker said any of these products should be discarded immediately. A list of approximately 50 recalled products can be found here.

“Consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, sell, or file any Jif-brand peanut butter they remember,” the FDA said, adding that consumers should try the peanut butter at home because the products are the only two that live on the shelf.

The FDA noted that salmonella can cause salmonellosis, a gastrointestinal disease in which most patients experience fever, diarrhea and abdominal pain. More serious cases include “high fever, pain, headache, dizziness, rash, blood in the urine or stool, and in some cases, it can be fatal.”

The agency said the elderly, children and those with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to the disease.

Anyone who consumes one of the recalled products and experiences symptoms of salmonellosis should contact their doctor with the FDA. Also, those who “use” one of the products should wash and clean surfaces and equipment that may have come in contact with the peanut butter.