Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage issued a statement Thursday saying the company is not the source of recent salmonella contamination.
The grocer purchased peanuts from the Peanut Corp. of America, which is under a federal criminal investigation connected to the salmonella outbreak.
Natural Grocers pulled products made with PCA peanuts from its shelves Jan. 29. According to Natural Grocers, the Food and Drug Administration conclusively found that all of the grocer’s nut-butter grinders were free of salmonella.
“Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage did not somehow taint the peanuts; we trusted our government and industry food-inspection process, which usually works extraordinarily well. There was no suspicion over PCA/Texas (peanut plant) when we purchased our organic peanuts — but as soon as there was even a hint of concern, we pulled our peanuts off the market,” said the company.
