The salmonella contaminated peanut butter recall has been in the news for weeks, yet recently it has been discovered that the federal government sent potentially tainted peanut butter and roasted peanuts to schools in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007.  It is unclear how much of this product remains in schools.

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Yesterday, the Department of Agriculture suspended all business with Peanut Corp. of America, and schools are checking cafeterias and vending machines for old stock. David Shipman, acting administrator of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service stated Peanut Corp. “lacks business integrity and business honesty, which seriously and directly hinders its ability to do business with the federal government.”

Originally, the Agriculture Department stated that school meal programs were not affected by the peanut butter recall.  Peanut Corp. recently expanded its recall to all peanut products made since Jan. 1, 2007, meaning schools have been sent contaminated peanut butter products in the past.  I know at my school we always have a large can of commodity roasted peanuts in the kitchen for snacking, and who knows how old it is?   Is it safe to compost?

Image: Micah Sittig on Flickr under a Creative Commons License