Monday's a dog. [via]

Poop and Jelly Sandwiches

The latest food safety issue involves Peter Pan and Wal-Mart's brand of peanut butter infected with Salmonella. Salmonella is found in the feces of humans or animals. Their recall has been extended to all peanut butter made since 2004. Is that disgusting or what? Revere at Effect Measure explains the broad scope of this contamination:

If anything should signal the dire shape of the US food safety problem it's FDA's announcement last week that it is extending the warning over Salmonella contaminated Peter Pan peanut butter to products bought as far back as October 2004. FDA warnings about Peter Pan peanut butter have been steadily pushed back from May 2006 to December 2005 and now to October 2004.

ConAgra makes Peter Pan peanut butter products at a single plant in Sylveter, Georgia. It is also marketed by Wal-Mart as Great Value Peanut Butter with lot number 2111. The product recall for the Peter Pan and Wal-Mart Great Value peanut butter brands wasn't initiated until February 14 (Happy Valentine's Day!), more than two years after the contamination might have occurred at the Georgia plant. A rise in cases of Salmonella serotype Tennessee was seen in the fall but identification of the source didn't happen immediately. So this wasn't a sudden or new problem.

Nor is it a small one. Peter Pan peanut butter is distributed in virtually every state and more than 60 countries. In bulk form it also finds its way into various non-retail products, such as Sonic Brand Ready-To-Use Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10.5 oz cans used in Sonic Peanut Butter Shakes, Fudge Shakes, Sundaes and Fudge Sundaes; Carvel Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10 oz. cans used in Chocolate Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Treasure, Peanut Butter & Jelly; Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae Dasher and other customized products containing the Peanut Butter Topping, including peanut butter flavored ice cream in ice cream cakes; and J. Hungerford Smith Peanut Butter Dessert Topping in 6 lb. 10 oz. cans, used by retail and restaurant outlets. In other words, it's all over the place and the contaminated variety might have been out there since October 2004.

An effective quality assurance program would test batches and send them to a microbiological food testing lab as a precaution. Three years of worth of contamination in a popular food product is unforgivable. Did the poop come from humans or animals? We may never know...either unwashed poopy hands or animal contamination.