Peanut butter being recalled in Salmonella outbreak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Peanut Corporation of America

(PCA) on Tuesday voluntarily recalled peanut butter produced in its Blakely, Georgia processing facility because it could be contaminated with Salmonella food poisoning.

Privately-held PCA said all product affected was produced on or after July 1, 2008.

The peanut butter being recalled is sold by PCA in bulk packaging to distributors for institutional and food service industry use. It is also sold under the brand name Parnell's Pride to those same industries.

Additionally, it is sold by the King Nut Company under the label King Nut. None of the peanut butter being recalled is sold directly to consumers through retail stores.

PCA said customers who received the recalled product are being notified by telephone and in writing.

PCA initiated the recall after an open container of King Nut brand peanut butter in a long-term care facility in Minnesota was found to contain a strain of Salmonella.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota laboratory analyses on the contamination in the container have the same genetic fingerprint as the cases in the national outbreak that has sickened almost 400 people in 42 states.