THE Wisnyco Group, local distributor for the Peter Pan and Great Value brands of peanut butter, said it has already collected almost 4,000 bottles of the products, which the United States government said have been contaminated with salmonella, a poisonous bacteria.

Yesterday, the Jamaican health ministry, in an advisory, said the United States’ Centre for Disease Control (CDC) had named Jamaica as one of the countries to which the tainted peanut butter was shipped. However, it did not say whether there have been any reported case of salmonella here.

However, William Mahfood, the head of Wisynco, told the Observer that his company immediately implemented a recall once ConAgra, the company which manufactures the products, issued a recall in United States on February 15.

“We actually implemented a recall in Jamaica on the same day that the announcement came out in the United States,” Mahfood said. “Within two days we had just about all of the products pulled off of the shelves around the island because our personnel went into the stores and pulled all the product off the retail shelves.”

Mahfood said his company was now in the process of accepting the products from consumers who returned the bottles or the labels for full refunds.

“I think at this point we have pretty much covered the retail trade, the only thing that might be left out are some products on the shelves of consumers,” he said.

In the meantime, the health ministry yesterday warned Jamaicans against consuming the tainted peanut butter purchased in May 2006 with the code beginning with 2111, located on the lid of the jars.

“The public is advised to discard any such products and to inspect peanut butter purchases for the date and product number,” the ministry said in an advisory.

Salmonella is a type of bacteria that causes food poisoning and is commonly found in meat and animal waste, particularly poultry.

The ministry said persons who may have consumed contaminated peanut butter recently and may have symptoms of the food borne illness should contact their local health facility or medical doctor.

Symptoms of food borne illnesses caused by salmonella include fever, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps. Salmonella can also cause life-threatening infections.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the warning about the tainted peanut butter on February 14, a day after the CDC released results of an epidemiological test, which linked 288 cases of food borne illness in 39 states to consumption of varying types of Peter Pan peanut butter.