New Peanut Safety Guidelines set by FDA

Jessica Smagacz

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This past Tuesday, FDA issued new safety guidelines for companies that use peanut products, reported Red Orbit.

FDA said “it may seize products that test positive for salmonella bacteria, which can become heat-resistant in high-fat environments such as peanut butter.”

In the new safety guidelines, FDA provides recommendations relevant to the recent salmonella outbreak. The recent salmonella outbreak sickened 683 people in 46 states. It also resulted in 3,235 products to be recalled.

“The outbreak has renewed calls for an overhaul of U.S. food safety protocols.”

What happens is that improperly roasted peanuts used in the making of peanut butter or peanut paste can harbor salmonella bacteria. Additionally, baking peanut butter into cookies and crackers might not be adequate to kill the salmonella bacteria.

Because of all of this, FDA “called on food manufacturers to only purchase peanut products ‘from suppliers with validated processes in place to adequately reduce the presence of salmonella species.’”

Companies are also encouraged to conduct their own tests to check for salmonella bacteria in the products they make.