BFAD: Locally-made peanut butter safe
The Bureau of Food and Drugs said yesterday that locally-made peanut butter paste and by-products are safe to eat but reiterated caution against such products imported from the United States.
“Our local products are (safe to eat) because I’ve just checked with our laboratory division. They have checked some of the locally-manufactured peanut butter products, nothing tested positive for salmonella,” BFAD director Dr. Leticia Gutierrez said in an interview. Even in the past, she said, none of the local products randomly collected and tested by BFAD inspectors as part of its regular monitoring were found positive for “microbial contamination.”
Gutierrez said that, for one, local companies get their peanut supplies from local sources since the Philippines has its own peanut industry.
“Our products are relatively safe,” she said.
Earlier, BFAD had issued an advisory that some peanut butter paste and by-products have been recalled in the US for “potential salmonella contamination. These products were manufactured by Kellogg Co., King Nut Co., McKee Foods Corp., South Blend Chocolate Co., Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products, Inc., Hy-Vee Inc. which were getting their supply of peanut butter paste from Peanut Corp. of America.
Citing the advisory of US’ Food and Drug Administration posted in its website, Gutierrez said that more companies have pulled out their products because they were also getting their peanut butter supply from PCA. These are Meijer, Abbott Nutrition, The Kroger Co., Clif Bar & Co., Evening Rise Bread Co., Country Maid Inc., Nature’s Path Organic Fyap.oods of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada and PetSmart. BFAD is set to update its advisory to include these firms. – Sheila Crisostomo
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