Peanut product recall is the largest ever

The Peanut product recall, said to be the largest ever, started with bulk peanut butter, spread to crackers and cookies and has engulfed products as diverse as kettle corn, pad Thai and trail mix.

The FDA said Friday that some boutique peanut butters, made from peanuts ground in stores, may be affected because of the wider recall.

The recall’s breadth has the $1 billion peanut farming industry on edge, says Emory Murphy, assistant executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission. “This could affect demand,” he says.

In the mean time, the Department of Justice on Friday joined in the investigation of Peanut Corp. of America, raising the possibility of criminal charges. PCA’s Blakely, Ga., plant has been linked to a salmonella outbreak that’s sickened 529 and may have contributed to eight deaths.

The GMA says PCA supplied less than 1% of peanut products sold in the U.S. Still, the FDA says the company has more than 300 customers, many of whom used PCA’s products as an ingredient.