Uncle Eddie’s Vegan Cookies is the latest victim of the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, recalling its über-delicious Uncle Eddies Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate-Chip Cookies because they contain peanut butter supplied by Peanut Corporation of America.

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The recent Salmonella outbreak initially seemed to be confined to the mainstream food system, but with the recall of Clif and Luna bars, people are starting to realize that just because you buy natural foods, you aren’t any safer from some inherent weaknesses in our supply chain.

When a product from one factory can infect hundreds, possibly thousands, of people all over the country, our reach is too big. We can’t possibly be ensured of the safety of our food with a system like ours.

The FDA has determined that PCA distributed potentially contaminated product to more than 100 consignee firms, for use as an ingredient in hundreds of different products, such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream.

Natural products affected by the peanut butter recall so far:

• Uncle Eddies Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate-Chip Cookies
  • 12 oz. Bag (UPC 40559 03302)
  • 3.75 oz. individually wrapped (UPC 40559 03305)
  • Recalled date codes include the code for peanut butter, 2 and a Julian date. Example: 21509 is read as the 15th day of 2009.
  • Recalled dates are: 221408 thru and including 21509 (READ AS THE 214TH DAY OF 2008 THRU AND INCLUDING THE 15TH DAY OF 2009.)
  • No other Uncle Eddies Vegan cookies are included in the recall.
• Whole Foods Carob Energee Nuggets
  • Distributed to Whole Foods Market stores in California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada.
  • Product comes in a nine-ounce, clear plastic package with a label reading “Whole Foods Carob Energee Nuggets” and bears a UPC of 999482-000274.
  • All lot codes are being recalled.
• Trader Joe’s
  • Sliced Green Apples With All Natural Peanut Butter (UPC 92459)
  • Peanut Butter Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars (UPC 88713)
  • Nutty Chocolate Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars (UPC 88721)
  • Sutter’s Formula Cookies, 16-ounce (UPC 00176)
• Nature’s Path Organic Foods Optimum Energy Bars Peanut Butter flavor
  • Affected products marked with the BEST BEFORE DATE OF 01OCT09A and sold in 2 oz (56 g) individually wrap bar with UPC code of 0 58449 77715 1.
• General Mills
  • LÄRABAR Peanut Butter Cookie flavor (UPC 54818-00014-7)
  • JamFrakas Peanut Butter Blisscrisp flavor (UPC 93759-00212-4)
• Falcon Trading Company/SunRidge Farms
  • Naturally Preferred Honey Nut Nuggets (UPC 011100372376), 8 oz. Bag
    • Lot Codes: Nov1209DD, Nov0209GB, Aug3009DB, Jly 1709DA
  • SunRidge Tropical Golden Nugget (UPC 086700221570)
    • Lot Code 2708
  • SunRidge Chocolate Energy Bar (UPC 086700211168)
    • Lot Codes 2948, 3108, 3388
  • SunRidge Energy Nuggets (UPC 086700680643)
    • Lot Code 2490893

All of the recall press releases, starting with those straight from PCA, the originator of the outbreak, say ‘voluntary recall‘.

As if it was their idea. Gimme a break…

As a reminder of what we’re dealing with (it’s not something to take lightly if you have kids or elderly family), here’s the wording on the recall about Salmonella:

Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the frail or elderly, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The FDA maintains a searchable database for peanut butter product recalls, and you can subscribe to the FDA Recall RSS feed to get the latest updates in your news reader. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this yet.

And guess where else you can find the FDA recall information? On Twitter.

Yep. The FDA and social media…

Image: glitter feet at Flickr under Creative Commons License