ConAgra sued over Salmonella-contaminated peanut butter

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 by: M. T. Whitney
Tags: peanut butter, food safety, grocery warning

(NewsTarget) A Missouri couple has sued ConAgra Foods, Inc. regarding a recent outbreak of Salmonella bacteria in its peanut butter, the first of many lawsuits set to hit the food conglomerate. The lawsuit says the couple's children were sickened by ConAgra's Great Value peanut butter brand in October. It was filed February 16, during the same week that ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter brands.

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What you need to know - Conventional View

• According to the lawsuit, the bad peanut butter required the children of Susanna and Brian Cox of St. Joseph, Mo., to be sent to the emergency room.

• The Great Value brand of peanut butter is produced exclusively for Wal-Mart; the Peter Pan brand is sold nationwide.

• The FDA and ConAgra recalled the two brands of peanut butter manufactured from May 2006 onward, linking it to 290 cases of food poisoning across 39 states. The affected peanut butter has a product code of "2111." (Link to official FDA recall

• The Missouri lawsuit is the first of many being filed, including one in Texas that seeks up to $150,000 in damages related to eating Peter Pan peanut butter.

• Each year in the U.S., Salmonella makes 40,000 people sick and kills about 600.

• According to the Associated Press, the only other Salmonella outbreak from peanut butter ever experienced was during the mid-1990s in Australia. In that case, unsanitary manufacturing plant conditions were blamed.

Bottom line

• Two brands of peanut butter from ConAgra are associated with a suspected Salmonella outbreak.