Skippy recalls peanut butter batches over possible stainless steel contamination

On Wednesday, Skippy released a statement saying it is calling back 9353 cases of peanut butter. This voluntary calling back of products is over the fear that some might contain a fragment of stainless steel. Hormel food, which currently owns the company, said the recall is for more than 161,692 pounds of the reduced-fat product.

The line of skippy products under question includes Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy peanut butter spread. Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter Blended With Plant Protein and Skippy Reduced Fat Chunky Peanut Butter Spread. These recalled products are between a specific limited number of code dates and have 2023 as the use-by date. The company and Drug Administration have assured that no other varieties are under suspicion other than mentioned products.

Skippy is currently the number two peanut butter brand in the US. Initially, Skippy was owned by Unilever PLC, and later in 2013, Hormel bought Skippy for about $700 million to boost their global footprint. Along with Skippy, Hormel currently owns a line of household brands like Planters, Spam and Dinty Moore, and according to their website, The Austin, Minn.-based company produces more than 90 million jars per year.


What are the most common causes of food recalls?

• The leading cause of food recalls in the recent past is the presence of unwanted, harmful substances or organisms in packed food containers.
• Some of the most harmful organisms that are behind major food recalls are listeria, salmonella, and E. coli.
• The presence of undeclared allergens is also one of the most common reasons.
• Foreign material contamination, that is, the presence of harmful material such as fragments of steel in the recent Skippy peanut butter recall case, is also a common reason for food recalls.

What are the major food recalls in history?

Skippy's recalling of peanut butter batches is not the first time there has been a recall related to peanuts! The Peanut Corporation of America recall in 2007-2008 was a massive one that claimed nine people's lives and got at least 714 people sick. The company eventually shut down.

Westland Meat Packing Company was forced to recall all the beef products produced between 2006 and 2008 owing to the circulation of a video that showed the cows being so sick that they could not even walk to slaughter.

Over half a billion fresh eggs distributed by the Wright County/Hillandale Farms were recalled in 2010 due to the presence of Salmonella.

Customers are requested to return the mentioned recalled products to the retailers.