Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So,about a week ago my daughter got very sick.She was running a high fever,and didn't want to eat.When this continued for a couple of days I got concerned and decided it was time for a visit to the doctor.My son came home from school and gave me a paper from the school nurse warning about the recall on certain brands of peanut butter that could be infected with salmonella.
It said the number on the jar would start with the number 2111
so just to be safe I checked mine.Wouldn't ya know it I had an
infected jar,and a few days before,my daughter had eaten about half the jar!She loves peanut butter!I took her to the E.R.
right away with my peanut butter in hand,and yup,the peanut
butter was the culpret! She is getting better,but isn't it ironic that she would get salmonella from peanut butter,and not
our turtles!Just thought you guys would get a kick out of it!
Angie

Oh no! I'm glad she's doing better.

I got that peanut butter too. Luckily my boyfriend found out the next day before we had opened it and I returned it to the store.

Another thing.

When I first got my turtle and I was showing him off, I would let people hold him (in the correct way, in the palm of their hand)

I would always tell them to wash their hands afterwards. Some people would, and some wouldn't. I always get annoyed when they don't wash their hands.

I can't make someone wash their hands though.

I have been saving Peter Pan lids all year to use for food and water dishes for baby turtles and every single one of them has the 2111 lot number on them.

I've got an almost full jar of Peter Pan sitting on my desk, with one sandwich worth of peanut butter missing, used to make a sandwich for my daughter the day before the recall was announced. I can't decide whether to throw it out or not since my daughter didn't become ill from eating it, nor has anyone in our family gotten sick from eating this lot number of PB all year.

Had to buy a replacement jar at Braum's, an ice cream store that also sells other dairy products, breads and peanut butter under the Braum's name, couldn't find ANY peanut butter at any other grocery stores.

There has been at least one case in the OKC area tied to Peanut butter. A boy who had been hospitalized twice for Salmonella and they hadn't been able to figure out where he getting the germ from until the recall was announced and they had their jar tested. No one else in their family became ill because the one boy ate creamy pb and the rest of the family ate crunchy pb.

Anyway, yes it ironic that we can't buy/sell baby turtles but we can eat eggs, poultry and (now)peanut butter which have all been linked to salmonella.

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter, but I'm confident that this will be just a memory in no time. Salmonella typically runs its course without any treatment. In fact, most cases go unreported.

I've actually been working with this outbreak as a part of my job. GET RID OF ALL 2111 PEANUT BUTTER, EVEN IF YOU'VE EATEN PART OF THE JAR! Infected jars have been in production since May of last year, and reported outbreaks started in August. Who knows how many cases went unreported? Salmonella outbreaks are incredibly difficult to investigate, identify, and control. If they're ever actually able to pin down the cause, it means that the contamination is VERY substantial. Better to be safe than sorry.

I really don't want to get into a big explanation or rant, but Salmonella, turtles, and public health risk is a CROCK! It's merely a convenient excuse...period!

I wish you and your family the best as your daughter continues to improve.

I'm kind of curious how they didn't catch the salmonella contamination sooner. Considering that it's human food wouldn't they test for salmonella and e-coli daily? I know they do this for pet foods.

Man oh man...
I am sorry about your daughter & I hope she's feeling better soon.
I can remember playing with frogs & turtles when I was 3 years old, got my first lizard pet at 6. Since the age of 6 I have spent my entire life with a reptile or amphibian being a part of my life.
The ONLY time I ever had Salmonella infection was when I was 20 something & ate bad chicken in a restaurant.
I had some other food poisoning once that was worse, I ate some contaminated olives at my own company Christmas party & wound up in the hospital.
STILL never ever have gotten sick from a pet!
Now I am older than dirt so.. ya know it's scary, what more normal every day food is there than Peter Pan? I hope the govt. gets a handle on this before other foods end up causing something like this. :-x
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PHRatz

The difficulty makes me want to pull my hair out! First, peanut processors don't regularly test for Salmonella because it is such an unlikely contaminant. The process makes it nearly impossible! The only real threat to peanut processors is aflatoxin, which they (and regulatory agencies) test for constantly. I can't say too much, but let's just say that the likelihood that this was an "accident" is miniscule! Put it this way, peanut butter is typically pumped into the jars, following processing, at a temperature that is too high to allow the survival of Salmonella. How could it get in a sealed jar?? Hmmm. Sorry so off topic.

>> I can't say too much, but let's just say that the likelihood that this was an "accident" is miniscule!

uh huh.. thank you, I've been thinking about this & wondering.
I recall some news about the possibility of attacks on our food sources uhmmm mmm.
It seems odd that at this time in this country that this would happen by accident.
Thankfully for me I am allergic to peanuts so I don't own any peanut butter anyway but.. what's next?
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PHRatz