Menu Inspirations Announces Voluntary Withdrawal of Foodservice Products Containing Recalled Peanut Butter Due to Possible Health Risk

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Menu Inspirations, a division of Heinz U.S. Foodservice, was notified by one of its peanut butter suppliers, that it received peanut butter included in the recall announced by Peanut Corporation of America due to potential salmonella contamination. None of the Menu Inspirations items produced with Peanut Corporation of America peanut butter are sold at grocery stores.

Menu Inspirations has taken the precautionary measure of removing approximately 3,000 cases from distribution in the marketplace made using any peanut butter manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America. Menu Inspirations notified customers on Friday, January 16, 2009 and asked them to remove all affected products from distribution. These products are distributed nationwide by Menu Inspirations customers to restaurants, hotels and other foodservice venues.

To date, test results on the peanut butter ingredients and the products listed below have shown no contamination with salmonella. No customer or consumer illness complaints have been received related to the products listed below made with Peanut Corporation of America peanut butter. Nevertheless, Menu Inspirations has asked its customer-distributors to withdraw all of the items below.

Following are the six frozen items subject to the withdrawal that contain peanut butter from Peanut Corporation of America.

• Menu Inspirations Chocolate Peanut Butter Bombe (pie-like product)
• Menu Inspirations Chocolate Peanut Butter Landslide (round-cake product)
• Menu Inspirations Chocolate Peanut Butter Scoops (sheet-cake or bar-type product)
• Menu Inspirations Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie
• Menu Inspirations Variety Dessert Bar (containing Rocky Road Bar)
• Menu Inspirations Variety Pack – Bars (containing Rocky Road Bar)

(Products may be listed using a different name on restaurant menus.)

These items are not available at retail.

No other Menu Inspirations brands or products are affected.

About Salmonella

Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis. For more information on salmonella, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Website at http://www.cdc.gov.