Seoul, South Korea – Feb 24, 2007 – The South Korea Food and Drug Administration Saturday issued a recall for US-made Peter Pan peanut butter, which has been already put on the market in the country. The government agency said testing is underway to see if the peanut butter contains Salmonella.

On Feb 24, a South Korea official with the FDA said the country has imported 488 cases of Peter Pan peanut butter since December. More than 30 cases have been put on the market while the remaining 450 cases are still under the custody of the importer.

The health official said the government had been recalling those 30 cases of Peter Pan peanut butter already on the market while products are being tested to see if the peanut butter is tainted with Salmonella.   The test results will determine whether or not the sales of this type of peanut butter should be banned.

On Feb 21, ConAgra, the producer of peanut butter tainted with Salmonella, said in its news release that the company was recalling the affected Peter Pan peanut butter and Great Value peanut butter with a product code starting 2111 printed on the lid of the jar.  

The company said that for a full refund, consumers in South Korea must return the Peter Pan Peanut Butter product lid along with their name and mailing address to:   TS Corporation, Commodities Sales Team/Overseas Trade & Commerce Division, 7-23 Sinchun-Dong Songpa-Gu, Seoul, Korea.

According to a report by the World Health Organization, Peter Pan peanut butter and Great Value peanut butter produced by ConAgra are contaminated with Salmonella Tennessee, which has been linked to more than 300 cases of salmonella poisoning in the U.S.

Both the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ConAgra on Feb 22 announced that Salmonella was found in opened jars of peanut butter used by people sickened in the salmonella outbreak.  Peanut butter samples were collected from New York, Oklahoma and Iowa.

On Feb 23, the United States Food and Drug Administration also confirmed that “Product testing by several states has now confirmed that Peter Pan peanut butter and certain Great Value brand peanut butter are the sources of the foodborne illness outbreak of Salmonella Tennessee that began in August 2006. To date 329 individuals have become ill from consuming the contaminated peanut butter, and 51 of those persons were hospitalized.”

The US FDA said ConAgra had recalled the peanut butters under brand names of Peter Pan and Great Value from stores and production was halted in their Sylvester, Georgia processing plant until the exact cause of Salmonella contamination can be identified and eliminated.

Symptoms of Salmonella illness include fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. The illness can be cleared within 3 to 7 days without any medical intervention in healthy people. But those who have poor underlying health or weakened immune systems, salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections.

In the United States, Salmonella infects 60,000 people, killing 600 each year. But contamination of peanut butter with salmonella is extremely rare.