FEMA food kits may contain tainted peanut butter

[G_j]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/04/fema.peanut.butter/index.html

d 1:31 a.m. EST, Thu February 5, 2009

FEMA food kits may contain tainted peanut butter

(CNN) -- Food kits recently distributed as part of a disaster relief effort in Kentucky and Arkansas may contain peanut butter contaminated with salmonella linked to a nationwide outbreak, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.


"Commercial meals kits manufactured by Red Cloud Food Services Inc., under the Standing Rock label, have been provided to disaster survivors in impacted communities, and these kits may contain peanut butter which is part of the precautionary national recall underway in accordance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration," FEMA said in a written statement.

Though the kits do not all contain the same main course, they do contain packets of peanut butter, the agency said.

"People who have received commercial meal kits are asked to inspect the kits in their possession and immediately dispose of any peanut butter packets," it said.

Jay Blanton, spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, said late Wednesday: "We just received this information from FEMA. Tonight, out of an abundance of caution, we are in the process of finding alternative sources of food for people in shelters. The Kentucky National Guard is starting to notify people who've already received the (meal kits) or might be getting one."

Blanton estimated that 6,000 to 7,000 people remained in shelters, primarily in western Kentucky.

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