Fallout Widens as Buyers Shun Staple

Many consumers, apparently disregarding the fine print of the salmonella outbreak and food recall caused by a Georgia peanut plant, are swearing off all brands of peanut butter, driving down sales by nearly 25 percent.

The drop-off is so striking that brands like Jif are taking the unusual step of buying ads to tell shoppers that their products are not affected, and giving them a coupon to make sure they do not learn to live without a staple that almost every child loves — and more than a few of their parents, too.

Given the steady stream of headlines since mid-January about one of the largest food contamination scares in the nation’s history, the companies whose products are not being recalled could have a difficult time winning over people like Guadalupe Vasquez.

On Friday, she and her three young children kept walking past shelves of peanut butter at a grocery store in Bellaire, Tex. “The news shows say don’t buy it and I won’t buy it,” said Ms. Vasquez, adding that she normally buys a jar each week for her family. “I’m very fearful of salmonella.”

The J. M. Smucker Company, which makes Jif peanut butter, placed ads in newspapers across the country on Friday, including The New York Times, that said the company did not buy peanuts from the Peanut Corporation of America, whose plant in Blakely, Ga., was found to be the source of the outbreak. The advertisement included a 35-cent coupon for a jar of Jif. “Obviously this has had a very negative impact on the industry,” said Maribeth Badertscher, a spokeswoman for Jif.

ConAgra Foods, the maker of Peter Pan peanut butter, is planning to run a similar newspaper ad on Sunday, along with a 50-cent coupon.

Source: The New York Times