Peanut Butter Sales Down 25 Percent

New York Times:

Many consumers, apparently disregarding the fine print of the salmonella outbreak and food recall caused by a Georgia peanut plant, are swearing off all brands of peanut butter, driving down sales by nearly 25 percent.

The drop-off is so striking that brands like Jif are taking the unusual step of buying ads to tell shoppers that their products are not affected, and giving them a coupon to make sure they do not learn to live without a staple that almost every child loves -- and more than a few of their parents, too.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[WorkingClass]

11:25 AM on 02/10/2009

If I live till September I will be sixty five years old. I have been eating peanut butter as long as I can remember. Not any more. All food processors should be lobbying for a strong federal inspection program. None have any credibility without it.

[ArturoYee]

05:26 PM on 02/09/2009

Link to this story has been sent to ConAgra Foods - they seem to be more concerned with customer relations right now vs yellow journalism.

[VOTER]

12:21 PM on 02/09/2009

Better late than never?

Corporations for Jif and Peter Pan have been slow in advising consumers
about their products safety. Why?

What were they expecting consumers to do given the national headlines and stories?

Especially, Peter Pan which did have contaminated Peanut Butter recalled in 2007.

What are these executives doing for their corporations?

"Duh! Let's take a meeting."

[imajoebob]

09:47 AM on 02/09/2009

PETER PAN brand IS SAFE!!!

That picture is wholly and utterly irresponsible. Change it. NOW.

[VOTER]

12:26 PM on 02/09/2009

Peter Pan is my favorite brand of peanut butter.
I couldn't find anywhere where it was listed as safe, including on their website.

Remember they did have a recall in 2007........
The above photo is from then.
It should be removed and the executives at Peter Pan should be removed too.

[VOTER]

12:45 PM on 02/09/2009

FYI

ConAgra has updated their website regarding Peter Pan.

I emailed them and asked for a coupon because I threw out my jar of Peter Pan
when the contamination was announced and ConAgra didn't make any comment
until almost two weeks later.

Shopping tomorrow and if I get a coupon from them via email, I will have Peter Pan
in the cart. Otherwise, I will give Jif a try.

[imajoebob]

02:02 PM on 02/09/2009

Completely, utterly, and shamelessly bogus!!

ConAgra, maker of Peter Pan, issued a press release on Jan 16 stating their product(s) safe. This is 4 days after the recall was reported, not the two weeks you allege, and 3 days BEFORE Jif issued a similar release (Skippy also issued a release on Jan 16). The FDA stated unequivocally that "no major brand" of peanut butter was affected. And virtually EVERY news report made sure to point out that only institutional brands were affected.

So lemme see if I got this straight:

You heard about the recall, but not which brands were recalled? You didn't notice that no peanut butter was removed from your grocer's shelf? You didn't notice any of the signs most grocers posted saying their peanut butter was safe? And best of all, you ignored all this information, threw away perfectly good peanut butter, expect Peter Pan to replace it for you, and threaten them if they don't?

Now you spread this "questionable" account as commercial blackmail (I'm sure Jif will be SO excited to have you as a customer). Using current hyperbolic parlance, this smacks of public relations "terror tactics."

Common courtesy prevents me from calling you a liar. So I'll just consider you ignorant for now.

[manitoumackinac]

03:20 PM on 02/08/2009

This is a no brainer to really prevent something like this from happening.

1. A LARGE regional army of GOVERNMENT inspectors.

2. Any business dealing with food has to be subjected to UNANNOUNCED inspections at any time. No more "preparing for inspections", it just hides the problems.

3. Hefty penalties for non-compliance, a zero-tolerance policy would be best.

[robin50]

10:30 AM on 02/10/2009

Perhaps we should take the same tactic China did over the tainted baby formula. One executive was sentenced to death. One was sentenced to life in prison. A whole slew were sentenced to 15 years.

Think about it, we would only have to do it once. Make it we would only have to do it once every decade or so. Corporations as a whole have short memory spans and get sloppy.

[Tinsdale]

01:56 AM on 02/08/2009

Not too long ago, in February 2007, there was another widely reported salmonella contamination of peanut butter, which at that time, included name brands. Peter Pan peanut butter, among others, sickened people in the 2007 outbreak.. On February 14, 2007, the FDA warned it involved Peter Pan peanut butter produced as early as May of 2006. Happy Valentines Day!
To this day, my family has never purchased that brand again. Based on their track records, who would want to gamble their family's health on the word of the FDA or the PR ads of these corporations? The current FDA has lost credibility and the trust of the American people

[rich misty]

07:30 PM on 02/07/2009

If Republicans had had their way entirely... We would also be complaining about melamine in the milk too.

[Shortyfuse]

07:06 PM on 02/07/2009

I dont believe it. I'm sorry but I think they just want up to buy Australian peanuts. Kinda like the other food scares because they want us to support some foreign farmers. Kinda like they are holding Ireland (HA) up as an example of good coroprate dealings. HA

[CR46]

07:31 PM on 02/07/2009

8 dead, 575 hospitalized, these are just the ones that have been tied to contaminated peanut products so far. 1550 products recalled. You may not believe it but apparently the FDA does.

[dteg]

04:20 PM on 02/07/2009

Give me some confidence that owners and people who made decisions to sell but not throw away contaminated people will be jailed. Is there one government regulattory body that has not been gutted since 2000? Working hard everyday it will take the administration 6 years to remove most of the skeletons from the closet.

[oneeyedodin]

03:50 PM on 02/07/2009

Chinese peanuts?

[andvoodoo2]

03:04 PM on 02/07/2009

Only 25%? Maybe the reason for the decrease in sales of ALL brands is because every time we turn around ANOTHER brand is being added to the recall list.

[joebaggadonuts]

01:54 PM on 02/07/2009

Accountability. It sucks for thieves and criminals who poison and defile our food supply. But it works for us.

[uglicoyote]

01:39 PM on 02/07/2009

Many Supermarkets have "grind your own" machines so you can make your own peanut butter. Our store uses organic peanuts so you have an all natural, sugar free product. You can adjust the grinder for texture (I like mine rather coarse). It tastes better and is healthier. Try it.

[WorkingClass]

11:28 AM on 02/10/2009

Do you eat the shells?

[JessWonderin]

01:35 PM on 02/07/2009

GEE what's the PROBLEM?

Didn't the recent Republican Administration strive keep Government out of our business and move all those "regulatin' things" . . . .????

Georgia is a solid supporter of the Bush Free Market greedfest, acting like some Chinese Milk Company going for profits at the expense of the unsuspecting public . . . maybe we OUGHT to follow the Chinese method of dealing with crooked corporate officials?

Until then I guess we will learn to live without peanut products, in as we can't trust the producers to produce a safe healthy product OR DISCLOSE problems before SHIPPING it OUT!!!!

[djgonebad]

11:53 AM on 02/07/2009

I guess one bad peanut does ruin the bunch.

When are these bums going to appear before a court of law? Because it's going to be real funny hearing them explain their motives for dismissing safety controls.

Their going to sound like a kids with peanut-butter stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

COOPERATE GREED AT IT'S FINEST!!! MORE MUST SEE TV!!