Peanut butter pulled from shelves

Published 2:06 pm Saturday, February 17, 2007

Peanut butter suspected of containing salmonella has been found in the Miss-Lou.

Jars of Peter Pan and Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand marked with the product code 2111 were on shelves at the Natchez Wal-Mart and at several markets owned by Supermarket Operations.

Barry Loy, director of retail operations for the chain that owns Natchez Market, Natchez Market 2 and Vidalia Market, among others, said his stores started receiving calls from customers Wednesday morning.

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The Markets and the Natchez and Vidalia Wal-Marts have now removed all jars of Peter Pan and Great Value from the shelves.

Both Wal-Marts and all of the Markets are offering full refunds for the products.

Loy said the stores will in turn return the peanut butter to the manufacturer and be repaid their costs.

Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter was recalled nationally Wednesday after officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked it to the salmonella outbreak.

Since August, 288 people in 39 states have fallen ill, possibly due to the peanut butter.

No deaths have been reported, though about 20 percent of the sick have been hospitalized.

The jars with the 2111 product code originated from a ConAgra facility in Sylvester, Ga.

The plant shut down Wednesday, and government officials toured the facility Friday looking for answers to the problem.

John Knight, assistant manager of the Vidalia Wal-Mart, said his store removed all of the products in question, but did not know if the store ever had jars with the 2111 code.

“We are playing all precautions and doing what we had to do,” Knight said.

The product code is stamped on the top of the jar’s lid.