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15 Oct 2011 00:33

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Biz: Peanut butter cups run dry? Prices increase on the nutty stuff

  • $450 the price per ton of runner peanuts, the kind of peanuts generally used to make peanut butter, last year
  • $1,200 the price per ton of runner peanuts this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture source
  • » Raise prices? That’s nuts! The result of a fairly weak peanut harvest? You might have to reach for another product next time you want to make a sandwich. Kraft plans to raise prices of its Planters peanut butter by 40 percent next month; Peter Pan, the peanut butter that never grows up, will fly to a 20 percent higher price, and damn skippy, the makers of Skippy are watching the situation closely. The spread on this one is that it’s pretty likely your cookies are going to be less awesome next time around. Bummer. We kinda like your cookies.

07 Mar 2011 14:03

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Biz: Damn Skippy: Beware the high price of tainted foodstuffs

  • 2 Skippy peanut butter styles recalled for potential Salmonella poisoning source
  • » Step away from the jar: The hazardous brands being recalled are “Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter,” and “Skippy Reduced Fat Super Chunk Peanut Butter,” as distributed in 16.3 ounce jars across the following sixteen states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin. Though no illnesses have yet been tied to this recall, you can never be too careful when Salmonella is involved. This is the latest in a recent string of high profile food recalls, which helped generate momentum for last year’s Food Safety Modernization Act. The FSMA introduced a host of regulatory updates to a system that had, to that point, been largely unchanged for generations.