Concord, NH – The peanut butter recall announced recently linked to products manufactured by Sunland, Inc. has been expanded. The company is voluntarily recalling hundreds of products dating back to March 1, 2010 because of possible Salmonella contamination. A total of 35 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Bredeney have been reported from 19 states. Five new cases have been reported from three states since September 25, 2012. No cases of Salmonella linked to this outbreak have been identified in New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Public Health Services is conducting surveillance to identify possible cases and following the investigation closely, which is being conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). FDA announced that environmental samples taken from the Sunland, Inc. nut butter production facility in New Mexico show the presence of Salmonella, and the Washington State Department of Agriculture laboratory isolated the outbreak strain of Salmonella Bredeney from an opened jar of recalled peanut butter collected from a case-patient’s home.

“Since the range of products is broad and peanut butter has a long shelf life it is important that all consumers check their cupboards for this product,” said Dr. José Montero, Director of Public Health at DHHS. “Most people recover from salmonellosis, but it has serious implications for young children especially, who are also the most likely to consume peanut butter products.”

These products were distributed nationwide including in New Hampshire and online. Yesterday Sunland Inc. expanded its ongoing recall to include all products made in the Sunland nut butter production facility between March 1, 2010 and September 24, 2012. The company reports that it is adding 139 products to the recall, bringing the total number of products being recalled by Sunland Inc. to 240. If consumers have any of these products at home they are advised to discard them immediately and not eat them. A complete list of recalled products is available on Sunland’s website at www.sunlandinc.com/788/html/pdfs/SunlandRecall.pdf.

Salmonella is a bacterium that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Some cases may be more severe and people may even need to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.

This may be an evolving situation so consumers are advised to check the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website at http://www.fda.gov/Food/default.htm for updates. For more information on these products, consumers can call Sunland, Inc.
at 1-866-837-1018. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting an investigation into possible cases of illness and has information about the outbreak on their website at http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/bredeney-09-12/index.html. For questions about salmonellosis, call the DHHS Division of Public Health Services, Bureau of Infectious Disease Control
at (603) 271-4496.