Peanut Snack Bar Recall

Peanut snack bar added to Canadian recall over salmonell

Canadians should not eat a brand of chocolate-dipped honey peanut bar, the latest salmonella-linked product that's part of a growing recall of peanut products in the United States.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it has expanded a voluntary recall to include another snack food made in the U.S.

Isagenix's Chocolate Dipped Honey Peanut IsaLean Bar in 2.29 oz or 65 gram size contains peanut butter or peanut paste recalled in the U.S. by Peanut Corporation of America, CFIA said.

The bars may have been distributed nationally, the agency said.

No reported illnesses are associated with consumption of the bars.

Investigators in the U.S. have traced the outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium to a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga.

More than 400 kinds of cakes, cookies, ice cream, other snack foods, Asian-style sauces and dog biscuits have been recalled in the outbreak.

Company 'devastated'

More than 500 people in the U.S. have fallen ill in the outbreak, which may have contributed to eight deaths.

On Wednesday, the Peanut Corp. expanded its recall to all peanut products produced at the Georgia plant since Jan. 1, 2007, as a precaution.

"We have been devastated by this, and we have been working around the clock with the FDA to ensure any potentially unsafe products are removed from the market immediately," Peanut Corp. of America president Stewart Parnel said in a statement late Wednesday.

Company officials are co-operating with state and federal officials, he added.

'One of the largest recalls we've had'

There have been calls for a criminal investigation into the company, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that is premature and the agency's investigation continues.

"We feel very confident that it's one of the largest recalls we've had," said Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's food safety centre. "We're still in the process of identifying products, but it certainly is among the largest."

The expanded recall includes contamination with salmonella strains not associated with the current outbreak, Sundlof told a telephone briefing with reporters.

"The additional salmonella strains discovered at this plant underscore that this plant was shipping adulterated product, but as for now we are not aware of any illnesses connected to any other salmonella strains shown at this facility," Michael Rogers, head of FDA's field investigations, told reporters.

FDA inspection reports showed problems including live cockroaches, mould and signs of a leaking roof at the Georgia plant.

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Source: CBC.ca