Spring Break
University takes precautions with peanut butter recall
Betsy Cohen
Issue date: 1/29/09 Section: News
01/29/09 - In response to the peanut butter salmonella outbreak, the University of Rhode Island's Dining Services and food retailers have taken extra precautions.
Mike McCullough, associate administrator of retail and dining halls, said URI recieved indications that products containing peanut butter manufactured by Core-Mark may have been contaminated around Friday, Jan. 16.
Products containing peanut butter at URI have been determined to be predominately from Core-Mark, an uninfected food plant based in Massachusetts.
"By the time the weekend was through, we knew exactly what needed to be pulled and what was fine," he said.
That day, the route driver for Little Debbie products came to remove peanut butter crackers from campus retail shops, Neil Ulricksen said. Ulricksen is responsible for overseeing most of the Snack Shack, operated by the URI Bookstore.
"[Workers] came [into the Snack Shack on] Jan. 20, and removed things like Keebler and Ritz," Ulricksen said.
Salmonella poisoning is caused by salmonella typhimurium, a bacterium found in the intestines of animals. Foods that are contaminated with this organism have been in contact with mammalian feces. This bacterium is responsible for gastric problems, known as bacterial gastroenteritis, resulting in bloody stools, diarrhea and occasionally death in severe cases.
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said approximately 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported each year in the United States.
On Friday, Jan. 8, CNN reported that the CDC was actively looking into a 42-state outbreak of salmonella. The source was later determined to be from the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), a food processing plant in Blakely, Ga.
Students do not need to worry about the safety of consuming peanut butter or foods containing peanut butter at URI, McCullough said.
"When there is a recall I receive an e-mail from the [Food and Drug Administration]," McCullough said. "This is how we know about the recall. I look everyday to make sure that none of our foods end up on the recall list. We're in tune to all the modern means of communication to address the safety of our dining halls. We monitor all the sites."
Mike McCullough, associate administrator of retail and dining halls, said URI recieved indications that products containing peanut butter manufactured by Core-Mark may have been contaminated around Friday, Jan. 16.
Products containing peanut butter at URI have been determined to be predominately from Core-Mark, an uninfected food plant based in Massachusetts.
"By the time the weekend was through, we knew exactly what needed to be pulled and what was fine," he said.
That day, the route driver for Little Debbie products came to remove peanut butter crackers from campus retail shops, Neil Ulricksen said. Ulricksen is responsible for overseeing most of the Snack Shack, operated by the URI Bookstore.
"[Workers] came [into the Snack Shack on] Jan. 20, and removed things like Keebler and Ritz," Ulricksen said.
Salmonella poisoning is caused by salmonella typhimurium, a bacterium found in the intestines of animals. Foods that are contaminated with this organism have been in contact with mammalian feces. This bacterium is responsible for gastric problems, known as bacterial gastroenteritis, resulting in bloody stools, diarrhea and occasionally death in severe cases.
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said approximately 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported each year in the United States.
On Friday, Jan. 8, CNN reported that the CDC was actively looking into a 42-state outbreak of salmonella. The source was later determined to be from the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), a food processing plant in Blakely, Ga.
Students do not need to worry about the safety of consuming peanut butter or foods containing peanut butter at URI, McCullough said.
"When there is a recall I receive an e-mail from the [Food and Drug Administration]," McCullough said. "This is how we know about the recall. I look everyday to make sure that none of our foods end up on the recall list. We're in tune to all the modern means of communication to address the safety of our dining halls. We monitor all the sites."
