Bon Appetit, the company that manages on-campus food options including the Terrace Dining Room and the Tavern, will wait for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval to serve some peanut butter food choices.
More than 1,000 peanut butter products were recalled nationwide starting Jan. 19 after inspectors discovered salmonella bacteria at a Georgia peanut processing plant. The plant, owned by the Peanut Corporation of America, distributed contaminated peanut products a dozen times in the past year, according to The Washington Post. The outbreak killed eight people and sickened more than 575 others.
The Terrace Dining Room is the AU venue most affected by the recall, according to Michelle Mooney, general manager of Bon Appetit's AU operations.
"Right now, we still have our peanut butter and our peanut butter ice cream on hold," she said.
Bon Appetit's parent company, the Compass Group, contacted its food distributors to find out what items sold on campus have been cleared by the FDA and then updated eateries on campus.
"They tell us whether we can put products back on the shelf and what ones we need to hold," Mooney said. "I know [Peanut Company of America] is still investigating where the peanuts have gone, what they've gone into and who has purchased them."
The FDA released a list Jan. 19 with potentially affected packaged items.
Bon Appetit's parent company sent out an e-mail the same day alerting its businesses about the peanut contamination and advised pulling packaged peanut products, such as those sold at the Eagle's Nest and the Marketplace, she said.
"Most of the products sold at the Eagle's Nest, they got on that first list and then they were cleared pretty quickly," Mooney said. "It was Keebler, Nabisco and huge companies that immediately got their peanut sources checked, so those [products] got back on the shelves pretty quickly."
The FDA started to investigate the Georgia peanut facility Jan. 9, and confirmed 10 days later that the salmonella contamination originated at the facility, according to a statement on the FDA's Web site.
The peanut processing company is now undergoing a criminal investigation, according to the FDA. The Peanut Company of America continued to distribute its products weeks after it received test results confirming salmonella bacteria in the products, according to the FDA.
The peanut company later issued a voluntary recall of all its products processed since Jan. 1, 2007.
Bon Appetit received an e-mail Jan. 20 to put a hold on all peanut products and remove them from the dining room, according to Mooney.
"We haven't had any special requests [for peanut butter food alternatives]," she said. "Students have been pretty understanding, they're just waiting for their peanut butter to be put back on the shelf."
Employees put up signs at the registers explaining the situation after students asked about the missing peanut butter, she said.
"I've had a couple of students ask if any other students got sick since the [peanut contamination] and I said, 'Not that I've been aware of,'" said Christine Hamlett-Williams, a cashier at TDR. "We pulled them to make sure that wouldn't happen."
No individuals reported illness from peanut products before Bon Appetit removed the items, Mooney said.
"We put the orange marmalade out, in replacement of peanut butter, but I haven't heard too many complaints," Hamlett-Williams said.
One student said she replaced her usual peanut butter on an English muffin with a plain buttered one.
"I wasn't really concerned," said Nora Gibson, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. "I figured they'd get in a lot of trouble if a couple dozen people got sick. I'm assuming if food's here, it's okay."
Bon Appetit will not return the peanut butter spread or peanut butter ice cream until the FDA confirms they are not made with contaminated products or until the outbreak is declared over, Mooney said.
Hamlett-Williams said she agreed with Bon Appetit's decision to wait for FDA clearance.
"I would rather wait for FDA approval, for my own safety and for the students' safety, because we could make our own decision ... but it might not be right," she said.
You can reach this staff writer at klitvin@theeagleonline.com.
