Jif peanut butter recall expanded due to potential salmonella contamination

Cargill is recalling several products infused with Jif peanut butter due to potential salmonella contamination. 

Cargill’s voluntary recall includes certain lots of its Milk and Dark Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Ritz Crackers, Peanut Butter Meltaways and Peanut Butter Eggs and Fudge, according to the recall notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration.  

The affected products were sold at the Wilbur Chocolate Retail Store in Lititz, Pennsylvania, and online at Wilburbuds.com from early February through the end of March.

Cargill isn’t aware of any reported illnesses connected to the aforementioned recalled products. However, “there is an ongoing outbreak associated with the consumption of Jif peanut butter,” according to the recall. 

On May 20, the J.M. Smucker Company voluntarily recalled select Jif peanut butter products that were sold across the US amid an outbreak of salmonella senftenberg infections. 

To date, 14 people have fallen ill and two others have been hospitalized. 

However, the actual number of people sick is likely “much higher” than the 14 people currently being reported, according to the CDC. 

Federal health officials have been investigating the outbreak that has been linked to certain Jif products produced at the company’s facility in Lexington, Ky., according to the FDA. 

“Epidemiologic and laboratory data show that some Jif brand peanut butters may be contaminated with Salmonella Senftenberg and are making people sick,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a notice about the investigation. 

The J.M. Smucker Company told FOX Business that it’s “confident” that it has properly defined the scope of the recall and that the incident was isolated to its Lexington manufacturing facility. 

None of its other products or peanut-butter-producing facilities have been impacted in any manner, according to the company.

Salmonella symptoms can include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. However, the organism can cause “serious and sometimes fatal infections” in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA.