The peanut butter recall crept into pet foods today when PetSmart announced it was voluntarily recalling some peanut butter biscuits because they used the peanut butter from Peanut Corporation of America, where the FDA says they've traced the salmonella outbreak. It's weird to think of something hard like dog biscuits having salmonella, which I normally think of in undercooked chicken and other fresh, raw ingredients. Some of the human products on the recall list seem unlikely, too: Keebler crackers, Clif Bars, NutriSystem granola bars (peanut butter flavor only, for all of those, of course.) Aren't all these products baked?

The scarier thing about these recalls is it reminds us about industrial production and the far-flung distribution of ingredients. Naturally, it's a little confusing. The FDA clearly spells out that the peanut butter you buy in a jar on the shelf isn't recalled, but no one feels quite safe or sure with that. Today I was in my company cafeteria at the sandwich line and two women were looking askance at the peanut butter, discussing if it was safe or if they should alert the staff to the imminent danger. (They decided not to bother.)
The company only makes industrial size peanut butter. They smallest size peanut butter they sell is five pounds and the biggest is 1,700 pounds. Their paste can be sold by the tanker.

But if this is like other recalls, we'll panic about this particular product. Then we'll go back to forgetting about where our food comes from.