Concerns about salmonella-tainted peanut butter prompted the Kellogg Company on Wednesday to put a hold on two brands of its peanut butter sandwich crackers.
The Battle Creek, Michigan, food giant issued what it called a temporary hold on its Austin and Keebler branded toasted Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Crackers, Cheese and Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, and Peanut Butter-Chocolate Sandwich Crackers.
The company said it took this "precautionary measure" after learning one of its suppliers — the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) — manufactured two brands of peanut butter linked to the salmonella outbreak that had sickened 400 people in 43 states and may be connected to the deaths of three others.
PCA is one of several peanut paste suppliers the company uses in its Austin and Keebler brands of peanut butter sandwich crackers.
Kellogg said it has not received any reports of illnesses linked to these products. The company, however, said it still decided to put a hold on any inventory of these products in its control and remove the crackers from retail store shelves.
Kellogg also encouraged consumers to not eat the crackers until regulatory officials finish their investigation of PCA.
"Consumer health and safety is our top priority," David Mackay, president and CEO, Kellogg Company, said in a written statement. "We are taking these voluntary actions out of an abundance of caution."
Consumers with questions about this action — or would like a refund on the products — can call Kellogg at 888-314-2060 or visit the company's Web site.
The company's action comes on the heels of a nationwide recall involving two brands of peanut butter linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak.
PCA on January 14 recalled 21 lots of its King Nut and Parnell's Pride brands of peanut butter manufactured at the company's Blakely, Georgia, plant on or after July 1, 2008.
Those brands of peanut butter are mainly used in schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and food service industries, the company said.
None of the peanut butter involved in this action was sold directly to consumers in retail stores.
Earlier this week, the Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health released lab results that confirmed a "genetic match" between the strains of salmonella bacteria found in a container of King Nut peanut butter — served in one of the state's long-term care facilities — and the strains linked to the nationwide outbreak of salmonella.
Minnesota health officials last week discovered the salmonella bacteria in an open 5-pound container of King Nut creamy peanut butter used in a long-term care facility.
One of the facility's residents — and 29 other people in Minnesota — had fallen ill from that strain of salmonella, health officials said.
Lab tests over the weekend linked that strain of salmonella to the strains of Salmonella Typhimurium associated with the illnesses of hundreds of people nationwide.
Minnesota and Virginia health officials also confirmed a link between the outbreak and three deaths that occurred in those states.
Health officials say those individuals had salmonella when they died, although it was not the conclusive cause of death in all three cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, says salmonella may have been a factor.
