I thought this was some kind of joke

I see on our school district website something about peanut butter sandwich recall and this little image: So I click to see what is going on. Since I am living in my own world, and get no news of what happens outside my classroom or vehicle, I had no idea about the Peanutbutter Scare!

But here is how much my school district was about to write about the achievement:

HISD Protects Children by Exchanging Peanut-Butter Sandwiches
FDA recall leads HISD to replace sandwiches children brought from home

February 15,2007

Brands Affected: Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter
Product Code: The affected jars have a product code located on the lid of the jar that begins with the number "2111."
The Risk: Salmonella Tennessee (a bacterium that causes foodborne illness)

HISD schools collected and replaced peanut-butter sandwiches children brought from home on February 15 because of a nationwide recall issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a result of possible Salmonella contamination.

Alerted by the FDA recall and fearful that parents might not know about it, HISD moved quickly Thursday morning to collect peanut-butter sandwiches that children brought from home and replace them with safe sandwiches made in school cafeterias.

HISD Food Services Department officials sent out an urgent message to kitchen staffs to look for and replace children's peanut-butter sandwiches during lunch time. School principals and staffs helped spread the word to children and worked with cafeteria staff to make sure children received new, safe sandwiches made in the school kitchens.

One principal, West University Elementary's John Threet, used HISD's new automated phone messaging system to alert parents this morning about the recall and to let them know the school planned to replace peanut-butter sandwiches brought from home.

Threet said a West University parent called and alerted him that she had bought some of the recalled peanut butter recently.

"Just to be on the safe side, if your child brought a peanut butter sandwich to school today, our HISD Food Services staff will replace it with a sandwich made in our kitchen with safe peanut butter," Threet told parents in a phone message delivered at 9:01 a.m. Thursday to 821 homes.
Threet said he had several telephone calls from parents Thursday morning thanking him for the emergency warning message, and a couple of parents confirmed they had indeed sent their children to school with the recalled peanut butter.

The FDA said if consumers have any of this Peter Pan or Great Value brand peanut butter in their home that has been purchased since May 2006, they should discard it.

The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Wednesday not to eat certain jars of Peter Pan peanut butter or Great Value peanut butter due to risk of contamination with Salmonella Tennessee (a bacterium that causes foodborne illness). The affected jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter have a product code located on the lid of the jar that begins with the number "2111." Both the Peter Pan and Great Value brands are manufactured in a single facility in Georgia by ConAgra. Great Value peanut butter made by other manufacturers is not affected.

Symptoms of foodborne illness caused by Salmonella include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. In persons with poor underlying health or weakened immune systems, Salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections. The FDA said individuals who have recently eaten Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter beginning with product code 2111 and have experienced any of these symptoms should contact their doctor or health care provider immediately.

The FDA said its warning was based on a just-completed epidemiological study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the states and local health agencies, which links 288 cases of foodborne illness in 39 states to consumption of varying types of Peter Pan peanut butter.

"We didn't want to take any chances that our parents didn't know about this recall, and that's why we asked the schools to immediately replace peanut-butter sandwiches brought from home," HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said. "Our first priority every day is to keep kids safe."

HISD plans to deliver a phone message to parents districtwide later today telling them about the peanut-butter recall and urging them to check to make sure their peanut butter at home is not part of the recall.

The sandwiches were exchanged for students free of charge.
HISD is the largest school district in Texas, with about 203,000 students.
Lovett Elementary School Principal Susan Monaghan said her staff worked quickly this morning to replace peanut-butter sandwiches.

"By 9:45 we had checked every lunch. Each teacher went through the lunches of every child and we did not allow them to eat the sandwich if they brought any type of peanut butter," Principal Monaghan said. "I have prepared a note home for the parents. My teachers are amazing and are always on the look-out concerning the safety of our children."