Hershey and ConAgra not hit by peanut butter recall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lance Inc, Tasty Baking Co, Hershey Co and ConAgra Foods said their products with peanut-butter or peanut-based ingredients are not impacted by the federal government's investigation into an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning.

U.S. health authorities on Saturday told consumers to avoid eating products that contain peanut butter until they can determine the scope of the outbreak, which may have been the cause of six deaths.

Lance and Tasty Baking issued separate statements on Sunday saying their products are not impacted by the recall.

Hershey and ConAgra, in separate statements late Saturday said they do not purchase any ingredients from the Peanut Corp of America, which is at the center of the investigation.

Peanut Corp said it had been informed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that some samples of its products had tested positive for a salmonella strain that may have originated in a Blakely, Georgia, peanut processing plant.

The recalled peanut butter was sold in bulk packaging in containers ranging from 5 pounds (2.3 kg) to 1,700 pounds (771 kg) and the peanut paste was sold in sizes ranging from 35-pound (16-kg) containers to tanker containers. None of the peanut butter or peanut paste being recalled is sold through retail stores, PCA said.

Kellogg Co said on Friday it was recalling certain products that "have the potential to be contaminated," including some Austin and Keebler branded peanut butter snacks and some Famous Amos and Keebler Soft Batch cookies.

H-E-B, Ralcorp Frozen Baker and Hy-Vee Inc have issued recalls for a range of their products that could have been contaminated.

Ralcorp said on Sunday it has taken the precautionary measure of voluntarily recalling all Wal-Mart Bakery brands of peanut butter cookies, peanut butter no-bake cookies and peanut butter fudge no-bake cookies because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

The company said no illnesses have been reported in connection with the recalled cookies and no other type of Wal-Mart Bakery brand cookies are being recalled.

The recalled peanut butter cookies are distributed nationally under the Wal-Mart Bakery cookies brand, Ralcorp said in a statement.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; editing by Richard Chang)