Much to the chagrin of Antonia’s digestive system, I’m not a choosy mom so much as I am a cheap one. I’d heard the reports about the peanut butter like the rest of this country, the reports that said salmonella was lurking in the depths of PETER PAN, like the perrenial boy's shadow in the depths of the night. But the minute I heard PETER PAN, I immediately tuned out in the same sad way I tune out when the sports segment of the evening news comes on. Peter Pan? Oh, that’s the stuff the GOOD parents buy. HEY! I don’t have to worry about food poisoning! Who knew that it would pay to buy the cheap stuff in more ways than one?! La di da… And since I’m not listening to this news report anymore, I now have an extra thirty seconds to stare into space. Maybe I can clean my glasses. I can go get a refreshing drink! I can I can… clean up puke?!?!
Lo! It wasn’t JUST Peter Pan. I argued with Allan for FIVE PRECIOUS MINUTES before he got his smartypants butt off the couch and pulled up the news report online that stated in black and white crystal-clearness that it was ALSO Wal-Mart’s Great Value peanut butter. “Go check your jar for the numbers 2111 on the top,” he said with an air of pre-eminence. Sure enough. We were lucky number 2111. Or unlucky, as it were. Meanwhile, Antonia was giving back all that milk of magnesia I’d forced her to swallow just minutes before. Giving it back with interest. My poor baby. BabIES! You see, our jar of poisoned peanut butter was three-quarters empty. Which can only mean that it has likely been responsible for a multitude of stomach ailments over the last month. Every time I thought there was a bout of stomach flu lounging around my house, it could very well have been the peanut butter. Every time I thought Antonia and Jonah were trying to get out of going to school by holding their bellies and complaining about chronic diarrhea, chances are it was actually the peanut butter. Every time I lectured my kids about washing their hands or cursed the school cafeteria for their lack of cleanliness or threatened to move to a mountaintop where bacteria would have to travel MILES UPON MILES to reach my children… it was probably for naught because I was the one spoon-feeding them bacteria on a fairly regular basis.
The good news is that Antonia seems to have fully recovered. The peanut butter is at the bottom of my dumpster. And now I can peacefully go back to bitching about the state of our world and my overdependence on Wal-Mart products, all the while ignoring the evening sportscast.
Thats horrible! I guess at least you know now what has been making your babies sick. Hope everyone is feeling better soon!
ReplyDeleteWow, how scary is that? I'm glad you found out what was going on! And I'm glad that the kids seem to be over it.
ReplyDeleteI've used only Smucker's natural Peanut Butter for years. My late hub was diabetic, and once we tried, it we discovered that it was actually good! The idea of peanut butter without sugar was, at first, unappealing, but it actually has more peanut flavor.
Oops. I better go check the peanut butter too since I'm also one of those bad moms that buys the cheap stuff and doesn't pay attention to the news. Thanks for the heads up Catherine.
ReplyDeleteYour poor kids! Their poor tummies! Peanut butter of all things, an American kid's necessity! I hope the crisis is over.....and I'm glad I don't eat peanut butter anymore (but I do need to check the stash I keep for when my niece and nephews are over)
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain sister. Luckily we only had two sandwiches before we discovered the poisonous peanut issue...who'd have thought you could get so sick from Peanut Butter?
ReplyDeleteI think Mr. ate an entire jar. He is known to keep a jar in his truck for easy lunches. He had been complaining of stomach distress for quite awhile, I know that was it. I just know it. Since the jar is gone, it can't be checked.
ReplyDeleteI can't eat peanut butter anymore, the smell gets me. So I'll be salmonella free, it'll be the mercury in the fish that gets me. :)
That is enough to swear one off peanut butter for life. I am glad she is feeling much better now.
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