How does Salmonella work? Asking for a friend...

[graylocks]

I have two jars of recalled Jiffy peanut butter on my kitchen counter ready to go back to Costco. PB is its own major food group in my house. 7/8 of one jar is already consumed.

Does salmonella live on just one tiny piece of a food or does it contaminate throughout? Am I not sick because I may not have hit on a swab with salmonella or is that entire jar probably Ok cause I'm not dead yet?

[Acer]

If you had salmonella, you'd know it. trust me.

[graylocks]

Acer wrote:
If you had salmonella, you'd know it. trust me.

of that i have no doubt but does the fact that I don't have it mean the jar i've been eating from is not contaminated?

[Acer]

graylocks wrote:
[quote=Acer]
If you had salmonella, you'd know it. trust me.

of that i have no doubt but does the fact that I don't have it mean the jar i've been eating from is not contaminated?
I don't know. But, better safe than sorry. I would not finish the 7/8, and I would return or throw out both.

[Diana]

graylocks wrote:
[quote=Acer]
If you had salmonella, you'd know it. trust me.

of that i have no doubt but does the fact that I don't have it mean the jar i've been eating from is not contaminated?
Not necessarily. Consider it this way: salmonella is bacterial so it takes time for it to multiply and be found throughout the sample. The manufacturer found salmonella in its "quality control" sample and since they don't know specifically where in the process it entered the line, they have to call the whole lot bad.

If the bug was thin, as in not a lot to begin with, it will take time for it to multiply and you may not have found it yet. Or you may have a jar that really wasn't affected, but out of an abundance of caution was declared as contaminated.

The real question is: Are you willing to risk it?

[graylocks]

Acer wrote:
I don't know. But, better safe than sorry. I would not finish the 7/8, and I would return or throw out both.

there's 1/8 left. Diana's post was food for thought, though.

[vision63]

Costco would win cuz I wouldn't stand in the return line for peanut butter.

[graylocks]

vision63 wrote:
Costco would win cuz I wouldn't stand in the return line for peanut butter.

If you go on a non-busy day there's barely any line at all. and this is $10 worth of PB! they have called and sent a letter about this so if i really wanted to i could probably call and get the refund authorized over the phone. costco knows everything you have ever bought from them. i once had them look up a mattress topper I bought 10 years ago.

returning the peanut butter would be an excuse to go to Costco and possibly the Apple store next door...

[Speedy]

If you empty the jar then would you even qualify for a refund? Take it back and get a new full jar.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Humans got to where they are partly because their health defenses are decent. People under 5, over 65, or immune compromised are at more danger. I did not find a report of an infection directly linked to a Costco purchase.

Salmonella is one of the eight organisms where a very small number of cells can be a dangerous dose. Salmonella is one of the eight where a very small number of cells can be an infectious dose.

Determining Infectious Doses of Foodborne Illness Agents
https: //www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2021/may/columns/food-safety-and-quality-infectious-doses-of-foodborne-illness