In short, yes. At least, according to Smuckers, the company that makes them. So far, products from the companies below have been recalled. Smuckers is not on that list. Also not on that list is Peanut Butter that you buy in a normal home-size jar. This recall is all about industrial peanut butter. Clicking on the [link] will take you to an FDA page with specifics about that recall. I’ll try to update this list as often as possible, but while I was making it two more items were recalled, so perhaps updates are a little out of my league. You can keep track of all salmonella-related FDA recalls here.

The Misunderstood Peanut, by Zesmerelda, used under Creative Commons 2.0.

List last updated on January 22, 2009

• Aspen Hills Cookie Dough Products [link]
• Nash Finch, the operator of stores named: SunMart Foods, Econofoods (excluding Wisconsin stores in Sturgeon Bay, Clintonville, Marquette, Holton and Iron Mountain), Prairie Market, Avanza Supermarket, Food Bonanza, Wholesale Food Outlet, Family Fresh Market, Family Thrift Center, and Pick’n Save (Ohio stores in Van Wert and Ironton only) is recalling peanut butter-containing products [link]
• Landies Candies Peanut Butter filled Chocolates [link]
• Health Valley Organic Peanut Crunch Chewy Granola Bars [link]
• Best Brands Corp. Peanut Butter Frozen Cookie Dough [link]
• Blanton’s Candies of Sweetwater, TN: Blanton’s Peanut Butter Sticks [link]
• Weis Markets peanut butter sandwich crackers [link]
• Dinners Ready of Meridian, ID is recalling the Asian Marinated Flank Steak with Sesame Vegetable Stir Fry, Indonesian Chicken with Coconut Rice, and Chicken Satay & Bangkok Peanut Sauce with Jasmine Rice meals prepared from their November & December menus [link]
• POCO PAC® and GRANDE GOURMET™ peanut butter and peanut butter and jelly combination products [link]
• NutriSystem Peanut Butter Granola Bars [link]
• Ready Pac Peanut Butter containing products (celery or apples with peanut butter) - Includes TRADER JOE’S CELERY WITH PEANUT BUTTER [link]
• Premier Nutrition TWISTED and TITAN branded bars [link]
• Nature’s Path Optimum Energy Bars [link]
• Country Maid Inc. Classic Breaks Peanut Butter Cookie Dough in 2 pound packages [link]
• Meijer Peanut Butter and Crackers & Peanut Butter-containing Ice Cream [link]
• Abbott Nutrition ZonePerfect and NutriPals Bars [link]
• City Market, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, QFC and Smith’s Private Selection Peanut Butter Passion Ice Cream [link]
• CLIF, LUNA and Zbars [link]
• Evening Rise Bread Co. Peanut Butter Cookies and Peanut Butter Bars [link]
• McKee Foods Corporation Peanut Butter Snack Crackers [link]
• South Bend Chocolate Company Assorted Boxed and Bulk Chocolates [link]
• Wal-Mart Bakery brands of PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES, PEANUT BUTTER NO-BAKE COOKIES and PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE NO-BAKE COOKIES [link]
• Lofthouse® brand PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES, PEANUT BUTTER NO-BAKE COOKIES and PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE NO-BAKE COOKIES, Parco Foods’ Chuck’s Chunky® food service brand PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES and Pastries Plus GOURMET COOKIES [link]
• Food Lion Bake Shop brand PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES [link]
• Hy-Vee Inc. is voluntarily recalling the following products made in its bakery departments: Peanut Butter Cookies, Monster Cookies, Peanut Butter Reese’s Pieces Cookies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lunchbox Reese’s Pieces Cookies, Lunchbox Peanut Butter Cookies, People Chow Party Mix and Assorted Truffle Fudge. [link]
• Perry’s Ice Cream - Select Ice Cream Products [link]
• Kellogg’s Company Austin® and Keebler® branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, Famous Amos® Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler® Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies [link]

I am still going to eat peanut-including processed foods. Then again, I ate expired ramen. If you have a kid, you should probably proceed with caution.

*Heat Eat Review gets all recall news straight from the FDA. You can check out any of the above information for yourself at http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html

Price: $4.99 Canadian
Serving: 1 muffin
Calories: 100
Fat: 2%, 1.5g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 6%, 140mg
Protein: 3g
Carbohydrates: 7%, 21g
Fiber: 24%, 6g
Sugar: 9g
Weight Watchers Points: 1 Point

Vitalicious says: Now you can indulge in chocolate, that’s not only guilt-free, but good for you. So if you have abandoned your hope of enjoying chocolate, don’t despair! For a delicious and healthy breakfast, dessert or all-day snack, lose yourself in the rich, moist Deep Chocolate VitaMuffins and VitaTops.

Laura says: Hey, I just realized how clever that blurb is for advertising both VitaMuffins and VitaTops. Way to kill two birds with one stone, Vitalicious!

I have an unhealthy addiction to chocolate. I dream about chocolate, I crave it 95% of the day, and I miss it when I’m not eating it. I really do love chocolate. That being said, you should trust that chocolate and I are pretty well acquainted. I know good chocolate.

A vast amount of portion controlled or ‘healthier’ chocolate have popped up on the market in the recent years. I’m sure you’ve seen some of them - like those 100 calorie puny ‘bars’ of chocolate that have barely any substance to them. Every time I have one, I barely have enough time to enjoy it and it’s gone. Those 100 calorie chocolate bars sadden me greatly. The ‘healthier’ sugar-free or whatever chocolate have only the faintest hint of chocolate, compensated with lots of sugar (unless it’s sugar-free of course). Maybe I’m just a chocolate snob, but I find them kind of crappy.

I figured there was nothing chocolatey out there that could be satisfying in a reasonable portion, be somewhat healthy, and taste good. Then I found these VitaMuffins sitting in my frozen food aisle, and the ‘Deep Chocolate’ flavour called out to me. Plus, the brand is called Vitalicious which sounded pretty healthy to me. To back that up, the package told me all about how low-calorie, low sodium, high in fiber, infused with calcium, and basically how wonderfully healthy the muffins are. Healthy and deliciously deep in chocolatey goodness? Those are star-crossed Romeo and Juliet of all food.

I was a skeptic. The muffins come in a package of four, individually wrapped in plastic. While these muffins are not as big as the gigantic muffins purchased in coffee shops, they are pretty much the average size of muffins that one would bake at home (at least the size of the muffins I make, anyway). I popped it in my microwave {slightly cold/whatever coming out}

Then, I bit into it.

During consumption, these were my thoughts:

Oh, chocolate goodness! Oh, melty chocolate chips! Oh, the generous amount of melty chocolate chips! Oh, yum yum yum!

So pretty much, I LOVE THESE MUFFINS. I love how they don’t taste like they’re supposed to be healthy. I love how the chocolate flavour is so genuinely chocolate and not some calorie-reduced diet version. I love how the muffins are soft so that I could be fooled into thinking it’s actually a chocolate cupcake I’m eating. I could eat a whole box of them and not feel guilty – 400 calories is an appropriate amount for a meal, right? I also took a look at the ingredients and was impressed by what I saw.

Impressive ingredients include:

vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, folic acid, iron, biotin, zinc

Wow! Vitalicious doesn’t kid about its name. I feel so good about eating these muffins now, which gives it bonus stars. It was already 5/5, so it’s like 7/5 now.

The texture of a VitaMuffin is the tiniest bit grainier than your average muffin or cupcake, probably because they’re whole wheat. It doesn’t really bother me at all and I just feel better for eating something whole wheat. The heating time is a little off – the middle bit was a little bit frozen when I first took it out (the difficulties of microwaving) so if that happens to you, just pop it back in for like 5 more seconds. No biggie!

The only thing that annoys me about these muffins is that they come in a boxes of four. I know me, I will eat four at once so this means I will have to buy many boxes which will cram up my freezer and not impress my housemates.

Now, run off and buy these muffins.

There isn’t a review today on Heat Eat Review. Sorry, but I’m sick and really don’t feel like making sure that a post on some frightening looking fettucini alfredo was up to snuff.

You’ll have to make do with these intensive, well-photographed reviews from Tasty Island:

• Costco Spinach and Artichoke Dip. Actual paraphrased quote from my mom “I just heat up some of this, grab some Wheat Thins, pour myself a glass of wine and call that dinner.”
• Costco Fish Sticks. Maybe the best fish sticks in the universe. Also, the largest bag of fish sticks in the universe. If you have a huge freezer and you’re on the fence about fish sticks and you have a Costco card, you should buy these.
• Progresso vs. Harry’s New England Clam Chowder Showdown. A more detailed review than you’ve ever seen on this site.

Enjoy the reviews. Hopefully I’ll have something new for you tomorrow.

-Abi

I started putting together a companion list to the best Lean Cuisines in the world. The new list was titled “Healthy Choice meals I have felt ill after eating”. Then I realized that wasn’t very fair and that if the people of this world were divided into camps based on their preferred low calorie frozen meals, I’d be in the Lean Cuisine camp. I am a Smart Ones and Healthy Choice hater.

Which is why you don’t see me often review those items. I know better.

However, I don’t know which the readers of Heat Eat Review prefer. So in the spirit of the Fug Girls, I’m posting a poll:

Also in the spirit of the Fug Girls I am asking “Bjork, where are you? Will you please grace us with your zany presence at the Oscars? Please?”