Natural Peanut Butter Chunky on the leftThe Smucker's peanut butter recall has slapped me out of my complacent food safety nap. Usually when there's a product recall, I glance at the brand name and move on. Being the whole-foods, from-scratch, granola-type that I am, it's always some product I never use anyway. But when I heard "Smucker's Natural," I thought, WHAT? Smucker's who? That's the peanut butter WE buy! I put down my peanut butter toast and cried.
Smucker's is recalling its Natural Peanut Butter Chunky because of possible salmonella contamination. The recall is for jars purchased in the last week with "Best Used By" dates August 3, 2012 and August 4, 2012 and/or production codes 1307004 and 1308004. No illnesses have been reported. Check out this list of states where the peanut butter was distributed. And then, join me in mourning my favorite peanut butter.
Okay, so two thoughts here: 1) Phew, we always get the Smooth Natural Peanut Butter, not the Chunky, but 2) hey, what does this mean about the safety of Smucker's peanut butter in general? If something goes wrong with one of their lines, doesn't that cast the whole operation under a dark cloud? What's different about the chunky side of things that couldn't also happen to the smooth side of things?
Oh Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter. I loved you in spite of your annoying layer of peanut oil on the top of the jar, which I had to stir myself. Can I overlook this new flaw? Can I just shrug off the risk like this mom and go on loving you?
One thing makes me feel a little bit better -- at least this recall is relatively small so far. Compare this with the Great Peanut Butter Recall of 2009. Eight people died and over 1,000 products were affected! Compare that with 3,000 jars of just one Smucker's product recalled, plus 16,000 jars still at the warehouse that never went out -- that's 16,000 jars of peanut butter that will never make anyone sick. Looks to me like someone in this situation was proactive and decided to act quickly on a possible problem before it became a widespread disaster. Maybe there's hope for food safety, after all?
Are you worried about the Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter recall?
Image via Smucker's
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Comments 41
We're a Skippy house so we are good but this is scary when food is being recalled...
Unfortunately we don't eat peanut butter because my son can't. Any peanut butter consumption on his part is followed by immediate and violent vomiting. Weird, right? But I love peanut butter. Love love love love LOVE.
I didn't know Smuckers even made peanut butter
Thank You! Love the "choosy moms choose jiff......"
I just discovered the Smucker's natural peanut butter and a recall would be just awful. I agree that at least they are being proactive and doing something about it before anyone has gotten sick! I'm gonna try the upside down refrigerated before stir method lol! Thanks for the stirring tips!
This is getting ridiculous. Between Dole Bagged Salads and peanut butter (remember Peter Pan 2 years in row) I'm getting fed up with the worry.
We LOVE Smucker's products, especially the jams and jellies. However, I will not be buying anything Smucker's for al least 6 months.
All companies have recalls at some point.. be thankful they acted quickly. Also note they are saying POSSIBLE contamination, in otherwords, it's not for sure, but they are acting on the side of caution.
I remember when I worked in an ice cream factory... we had a few recalls. Most never reach the shelves and are thus unheard of by the consumer, and most are for silly things, slightly discolored due to inproper coloring in the mixing room, or not enough chocolate bits, etc. we had one recall.. where we recalled all the foods we had that contained peanut butter, due to the great peanut butter recall, although after we tested the products, none were found to be contaminated, and it was a complete loss to the company, but, again, we were acting on the side of caution, and none of our products during this event, made it to the shelves.
"Y'all really shouldn't say "Well thankfully we use such and such brand" because soon enough, your brand will be recalled, too. Buy organic."
which is no different since most are made in the same factories as the other products,so if one is contaminated, chances are so are the rest.. more so for organic because you aren't allowed to use environmentally safe cleaners on the machines for those products, you are only allowed to use water.. and often times it's not even hot.. so you have MORE chances of contamination.
BTW.. natural IS by food industry standards, "organic".. in fact NATURAL is by far the more proper term to use, since ORGANIC scientifically means something containing carbon.. thus not even water is organic.