The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

Dining Halls take precautions against peanuts

By By Marie Scarles, News Correspondent

There’s nothing simpler than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Starting from the age one can yield a butter knife, peanut butter and jelly becomes the ultimate comfort food, the meal that can always be relied on ‘- and afforded. But this year, half of the traditional sandwich is making people sick.
There have been eight deaths and 550 people in 43 states, including Massachusetts, have become ill from peanut products infected with salmonella, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Local media reports said none of the peanut butter was sold directly to consumers in retail stores ‘- rather it was sold in bulk to universities, restaurants, nursing homes and hospitals. So while jars of peanut butter sold to consumers are safe, what may have been compromised was the peanut butter that sat on the salad bar in Stetson East.
A spokesperson from dining services said the dining halls have since switched to the untainted consumer containers, and that there was no concern about its quality. The peanut butter was pulled from the dining halls on Jan. 25 and was cleared for use on Jan. 27.’
‘It was a precautionary measure only … Stetson Hall is now using Jif peanut butter and will use the container so students can feel confident in [the] product,’ said Maureen Timmons, Northeastern University’s Director of Dining Services, in an e-mail to The News.
The salmonella outbreak was traced to a factory in Blakely, Ga. under the control of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). On Jan. 13, they issued a recall of any peanut products made in the plant since Jan. 1, 2007 including peanut butter, paste, meal, granules and raw peanuts. Other recalled products include Clif and Luna bars, Keebler cookies, Kashi granola bars and even Whole Foods Cabrob Energee Nuggets.
Salmonella is often found in meat, dairy products or on the skin of reptiles, and people who become infected commonly develop fever, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website. In elderly, sick and very young populations there is a risk of death.
According to a Jan. 28 New York Times article, the PCA’s Georgia plant was inspected by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) team Jan. 9.’ The same article said that throughout 2007 and 2008 there were 12 positive tests for salmonella in the plant’s peanut products.’ The products were tested again and concluded with negative results, so they were shipped out without having the factory sterilized.
Many students said they were not concerned about the latest salmonella scare.
Katherine Newport-Forbes, a freshman cultural anthropology major, ate a peanut-butter sandwich for dinner Thursday and said it was worth the risk.
‘I’m still going to eat my sandwich,’ she said. ‘That’s why they tell you not to eat raw cookie dough, and I eat that. Everything delicious has salmonella in it.’
That may seem like the case, especially when ‘everything delicious’ includes the Reese’s Pieces in freshman business major Meghan McVeigh’s ice cream sundae.
‘I wasn’t aware of it, so I can’t say that I’m worried,’ she said.
Sophomore Sarah Laskey, a physical therapy major, said the outbreaks were discussed in her classes. She said she had a personal scare after eating a Luna bar, but her health hasn’t suffered.
‘I checked the date,’ she said, ‘It was ‘Nuts Over Chocolate,’ and hella good. I ate it two weeks ago and I’m still fine.’
Some students said they weren’t confident in the dining halls’ ability to keep the food safe. Tom Dusseault, sophomore chemical engineering major, said he doesn’t usually eat peanut butter in the dining halls.
‘If there was diseased food out there, we would have it,’ he said. ‘I was never aware that our food is any better quality than another other restaurant out there.’

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