Members of the National Peanut Board will set up shop in Vanderbilt Hall in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal March 4 and 5 to meet consumers, answer questions, and give away samples of peanuts, peanut butter, and other peanut items. The event kicks off the farmers’ efforts nationally to rebuild consumer confidence in products made with the crops they grow.
“No one is more deeply disturbed by the recent salmonella crisis than the thousands of USA peanut farmers and their families,” says Roger Neitsch, Texas peanut farmer and chairman of the National Peanut Board–the research and promotion board funded by peanut growers. “We may be peanut farmers, but we also are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters–and consumers. So we understand and share the concerns being experienced these days by families across America.”
More than 2,000 products made with ingredients manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America have been recalled since early January. However, according to the US Food and Drug Administration, “major national brands of jarred peanut butter found in grocery stores have not been among the products recalled,” and a vast array of other peanut butters and peanut products are also unaffected.
The National Peanut Board encourages consumers to visit www.nationalpeanutboard.org for more information.
Manufacturers of some of those unaffected products–including Hampton Farms, Mars Snackfood US, MoonPie, Peanut Butter & Co., Planters, Smithfield Foods/The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg, Snyder’s of Hanover and Sunland, Inc.–will join the farmers in Grand Central Terminal where they, along with New York Apple, will provide samples to visitors.www.nationalpeanutboard.org
Raffaela Marie Fenn, president and managing director of NPB, says the interactive and educational exhibit in Vanderbilt Hall will also feature a field of peanut plants, nutrition and culinary information, cooking demonstrations, and appearances by noted chefs and athletes. “Farmers take extraordinary measures to grow a safe and sustainable crop,” she says. “We want people to feel confident they can enjoy peanut products.”
The National Peanut Board represents all USA peanut farmers and their families.
