Today the SoyNut Butter Co. released the following:
Please note that the SoyNut Butter Co. has expanded our voluntary recall to include ALL I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butters and I.M. Granola effective immediately. Regardless of Best Buy date or variety, we recommend that you do not consume I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter or I.M. Healthy Granola and return it to the store full a full refund.
For over 20 years, the SoyNut Butter Co. has tried to make nut free products that help those with allergies eat like everyone else. Likewise, we chose our contract manufacturer because of their integrity and knowledge of food safety and quality. Unfortunately, we feel that is better to be cautious regarding public safety and urge our customers to heed the expanded recall. We have enjoyed serving you and will do everything we can possibly do to assist the FDA in this outbreak.
With 16 people with E. coli O157:H7, mostly children, many with life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome, a broad and expanded recall was warranted. However, what struck me most was the bolded and italicized sentence above. My guess is that most, if not all, customers purchasing these SoyNut Butter products thought it was not being “contract manufacture[d].”
So, who is the “real” manufacturer?