The Smoking Peanut Butter

The AP reports on the salmonella outbreak traced to Peter Pan Peanut Butter and another ConAgra product:

Nearly 300 people in 39 states have fallen ill since August, and federal health investigators said they strongly suspect Peter Pan peanut butter and certain batches of Wal-Mart's Great Value house brand -- both manufactured by ConAgra Foods Inc.
Shoppers across the country were warned to throw out jars with a product code on the lid beginning with ''2111,'' which denotes the plant where it was made.
How the dangerous germ got into the peanut butter was a mystery. But because peanuts are usually heated to high, germ-killing temperatures during the manufacturing process, government and industry officials said the contamination may have been caused by dirty jars or equipment.

This outbreak of a rare salmonella strain has been going on since August:

The strain in this outbreak, Salmonella serotype Tennessee, is comparatively rare, as is salmonella contamination of peanut products, said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
It may have taken a long time to identify peanut butter as the source because ''it's just not one of the first things you'd suspect,'' Smith DeWaal said.