Area school districts have been gradually disposing of peanuts they received from the Peanut Corp. of America, the Georgia peanut processing facility suspected of knowingly shipping products contaminated with salmonella.
It's not as easy as simply tossing the product in the garbage -- in the Eveleth-Gilbert School District, food service supervisor Kelly Potts poured bleach over the suspect nuts and sealed them in a bag labeled "poison."
Area school districts that received the shipments include the Cook County Schools, Eveleth-Gilbert schools, Hibbing schools and the Fond du Lac Reservation, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. That number may change as the department continues to gather information, according to a news release from the department on Thursday.
The dry-roasted peanuts were part of a federal commodity program shipment to Minnesota schools on Jan. 15, 2007. The department estimated that about 2,200 pounds of peanuts from the shipment still were in storage at the schools.
Cook County Schools removed all peanut products from the student menu, said middle and high school Principal John Engelking, including individually wrapped packages of peanut butter and crackers.
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This week, the district received specific instructions on how to dispose of the peanuts. Engelking said they destroyed seven cases of peanuts by wrapping the product in a secure bag in front of two witnesses, and disposing of it in a secure container.
The district also is eligible for $2.10 per case in federal reimbursement for disposing of the tainted products -- that adds up to $14.70 for the district, Engelking said.
Several districts received the peanuts through Innovative Nutrition for Arrowhead Communities, which provides food service to six school districts on the Iron Range. A representative from the agency could not be reached for comment.
The company serves the Hibbing School District. Superintendent Robert Belluzzo said the company "stopped serving [the peanuts] immediately when the notice came out, and, to my knowledge, we are not serving any peanut products at this time."
None of the districts contacted reported any illness attributed to students eating the peanuts or peanut products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 529 people in the United States have been infected by tainted peanuts, and eight people have died from the infection.
"We get our peanut butter from another supplier, but we still pulled it," Potts said, adding that the district wanted to err on the side of safety. Meanwhile, they are offering "sun butter," a peanut butter substitute made from sunflower seeds. The product is not as popular with students, and there have been some complaints, Potts said.
"I don't think a lot of kids realize the danger, like it couldn't happen to us," Potts said.
