All Natural does NOT always mean Safe....

Trader Joe’s Expands Its Voluntary Recall To Include Trader Joe’s Sliced Green Apples With All Natural Peanut Butter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- (January 23, 2009) Monrovia, CA - Trader Joe’s today expands its voluntary recall to include Trader Joe’s Sliced Green Apples With All Natural Peanut Butter, 7-ounce (UPC 92459) because the product contains peanut butter that was manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), which is the focus of an ongoing Salmonella investigation.

Yesterday as part of the ongoing PCA investigation, as a precaution Trader Joe’s voluntarily recalled three private label items including: Peanut Butter Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars, 7.4-ounce (UPC 88713), Nutty Chocolate Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars 7.4-ounce (UPC 88721) and Sutter’s Formula Cookies, 16-ounce (UPC 00176)

Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail and 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 web-site at www.cdc.gov.

As a precaution, in advance of this recall, Trader Joe’s removed all four items from store shelves. Both Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars were supplied by Lovin Oven, LLC and the Sutter’s Formula Cookies were produced by WendySue & Tobey's Bakery.

The Sliced Green Apples With All Natural Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars and Nutty Chocolate Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars were sold at Trader Joe’s stores nationwide.

The affected Sutter’s Formula Cookies were sold only in Trader Joe’s stores located in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

At this time, there have been no confirmed cases of illnesses or adverse affects affiliated with these products.

At Trader Joe’s we take the safety of our customers and the integrity of our products very seriously. Customers who have purchased any of these items (any date code) are urged to return them to any Trader Joe’s for a full refund. Customers with questions may contact Trader Joe’s Customer Service at (626) 599-3817.