Third Death Blamed on Peanut Butter
West Virginia Woman Died After 18-Day Illness
By James R. Hood | ConsumerAffairs.Com
The death of a West Virginia woman may be linked to Salmonella-infested Peter Pan peanut butter, bringing to three the unofficial death toll from one of the nation's largest outbreaks of food poisoning. Mary Halstead, 85, of Weston, WV, died Jan. 10 after becoming ill on December 23, 2006, according to her son, Larry Halstead. |
Salmonella is especially toxic to children, the elderly, pregnant women and individuals with chronic illnesses and compromised immune systems.
"Her doctors didn't ever test her for Salmonella because nobody had heard anything about any of this at the time," Halstead told ConsumerAffairs.Com. "Her doctor said he couldn't figure out why the antibiotics they gave her weren't working."
Halstead said his mother became ill after eating a peanut butter sandwich, one of her favorite foods. During her hospitalization at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital in Weston, she repeatedly asked the staff to serve her a peanut butter sandwich but they refused, saying peanut butter was not on their standard menu.
"So, dumb old me, I made her a peanut butter sandwich at home and brought it to her at the hospital, because it was just about the only thing she wanted to eat," Larry Halstead said. "In no time, she got just 100% worse." Halstead said his mother then became semi-comatose and died.
After his mother's death, Halstead heard the news of the Salmonella infestation and looked at the jar of peanut butter he had used to make his mother's sandwich. It was Peter Pan peanut butter with the "2111" serial number.
"The death certificate says she died of congestive heart failure due to complications of pneumonia but she died of eating peanut butter," Halstead said. "She was in good health for her age until this all started."
Halstead said his mother "suffered something awful" during her last days and said he is considering taking legal action.
Other Deaths
Two other deaths have been unofficially attributed to the tainted peanut butter.
An elderly Chicago area man, George Baldwin, was said to be in relatively good health just before his recent death from complications of food poisoning, shortly after he ate a peanut butter sandwich.
"He puts the peanut butter on toast, eats the toast, in six hours he develops fever, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting -- all of which are signs of salmonella poisoning," Baldwin family attorney Don McGarrah said.
A 76-year old Pennsylvania woman, Roberta Barkay of Philadelphia, died in January from complications of food poisoning, and family members contend she too ate peanut butter shortly before her death. The family has hired an attorney who has filed suit against the manufacturer, ConAgra.
Colombian Complaint
Today brought the first indications that contaminated food from the Georgia plant may have been exported to other countries.
A Colombian man said he bought a jar of Peter Pan peanut butter on Feb. 10 because his five-year-old daughter was fond of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She became ill with diarrhea and other symptoms last week and the family stopped feeding her peanut butter.
"To my suprise i was watching CNN news in English when I heard that the FDA was warning consumers about the salmonella in Peter Pan peanut butter," said the girl's father, Juan Sebastian OrdoAtez. "And to add to this surprise the lid of the jar I still have has the number 21111."
Sebastian OrdoAtez said he contacted the store where he bought the peanut butter and was put in touch with the importer, which told him that any laboratory tests would be at his own expense.
"I think these people are not really interested in our health," he said in his complaint to ConsumerAffairs.Com.
China is recalling U.S. peanut butter, according to state-run media. China imported three batches of the two peanut butter brands in September and December of 2006 and January of 2007, totaling 742 cases, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
At least 156 cases have already been sold in Beijing, it said. Xinhua did not say if there had been any reports of people getting sick from the peanut butter.
