Daily Skiff

Dining services employees pulled peanut butter sandwich crackers off the shelf at Bistro Burnett on Wednesday morning because of a previous recall on the crackers issued by Kellogg Co., a university official said.

Frank Horak, manager of retail units for Dining Services said he took the Austin brand crackers off the shelf as a precaution after someone phoned in the tip.

"I called the Bistro and said, 'There seems to be a problem,'" Horak said. "I had them take the crackers off the shelf just to be safe."

According to a news release issued by Kellogg as part of an ongoing investigation conducted by the Food and Drug Administration, the company issued the recall on Austin brand crackers after salmonella was found in one of the packages.

Kellogg originally advised customers and consumers to hold their products Jan. 14, and issued the recall Jan. 16, according to the news release.

Horak said the crackers had been pulled from the shelves after the original recall two weeks ago, but were placed back on the shelves until today.

Monica Zimmer, director of public relations for Sodexo Inc., the food service provider for the university, wrote in an e-mail that the company regrets stocking the recalled crackers.

"Due to a human error, a product on the recall list was mistakenly stocked at Texas Christian University," Zimmer wrote.

According to a news release issued by the Food and Drug Administration, the investigation centers around Peanut Corporation of America, the company at the source of a recent salmonella outbreak likely caused by tainted peanut butter.

Zimmer wrote that Sodexo is monitoring the events of the recent peanut product recalls and have taken immediate action to remove any recalled products from all food service operations.

Sodexo will refrain from serving any products with peanut ingredients until their suppliers approve of the products' safety, Zimmer wrote.

"Our corporate food safety team is working directly with the Sodexo team at Texas Christian University to ensure complete understanding of the complex recall issue," Zimmer wrote.

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