As evidenced by the lack of food items containing peanut butter at the campus cafeteria and local grocery stores, foods containing the popular product have become an item to be avoided.
The recently discovered salmonella outbreak in peanut butter food items has caused a recall by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) of 180 items potentially contaminated by Salmonella Typhimurium, a food-borne bacterium.
What the outbreak means, according to John Offerle, general manager of Sodexo Campus Services at Texas A&M University-Commerce, is that people will just have to eat jelly sandwiches for the time being.
Offerle said the campus dining service has taken a proactive stance by removing from the menu all food items containing a peanut butter product.
“They want us to make sure we know what is safe, but are urging us to not use any peanut butter products right now,” Offerle said.
Although Offerle said not all peanut butter items removed from the cafeteria menu are items that have been recalled as potentially containing the bacteria, recommendations to remove the product were made because of public awareness of the outbreak.
“We are trying to take the high road and not offer any of it at this time,” Offerle said.
The only exception is a few products offered at the campus bistro. However, patrons have been reluctant to purchase menu items containing peanut butter, the manager said.
“I’ve been in the food service for 30 years, and I’ve never seen peanut butter hit like this before,” Offerle said. “This really surprised us because it takes a big food item off of our menu.”
All menu items containing peanut butter, including any crackers or desserts, will not be available until more information comes forward, Offerle said.
“It is such a used food,” he added. “Who would think that something so innocuous could be so bad for you? It just goes to show how vulnerable our food supply is.”
Offerle said the vending machine items are safe, according to a release by Custom Food Service, the vending machine supplier for the campus, Frito-Lay products have not been traced back to the PCA plant in Blakely, Ga. The FDA Web site does not list Frito-Lay brand crackers on its product recall list.
Snack products have been the hardest hit items, according to Joe Mayrell, temporary manager at the Commerce Wal-Mart. Many brands of power bars, energy bars, cookies and crackers containing peanut butter have been pulled from the shelves, as recommended by the FDA.
Major brands in the recall include Austin crackers and some Keebler peanut butter crackers and cookies, which are both produced by the Kellogg Company, and some Sam’s Choice items.
“There are recalls all the time, but this is a big one,” Mayrell said.
According to the FDA, major brands of peanut butter are safe and still on the shelves.
Although the recall on peanut butter products is nationwide, health department officials in Hunt and Lamar counties report no cases of salmonella infection in the area.
Anthony Bethel, Lamar County Health Department administrator, said the closest case to the Northeast Texas area he has heard about occurred in Fort Worth.
According to a Jan. 26 online press release by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 501 people in 43 states, including six people in Texas, have been infected by salmonella bacteria through peanut butter products processed at PCA.