Salmonella outbreak effects sales of peanut butter products

NEW YORK The national salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 500 people, eight of whom have died, has not only prompted many retailers, including CVS and Walgreens, to pull certain products containing peanuts from their shelves but has had a significant impact on sales of peanut butter products, even those not affiliated with the particular supplier of tainted product.

“The peanut butter outbreak shows little ill-effect on prepackaged peanuts, but the peanut butter category is definitely showing the impact. It would appear that manufacturers and retailers are quickly removing potentially tainted products off of store shelves. For those who are not affiliated with the particular supplier of tainted product, now is the time to take extra measures to educate consumers and minimize any negative impact,” stated Todd Vale, SVP, Consumer & Shopper Insights at Nielsen.

According to recent data released by Nielsen, $72.5 million in jarred peanut butter was sold at food, drug and mass (excluding Wal-Mart) during the four weeks, down 11.5% compared with previous four-week period and down 3.8% compared with the same period a year-ago. According to Nielsen, while the year-over-year decline may seem minimal, it comes after eight consecutive periods of double-digit growth in this category.

In addition, 33.8 million pounds of jarred peanut butter was sold during the four weeks, down 11% from the previous four weeks and down 22.1% from the same period a year ago.

Nielsen noted that prepackaged peanuts, including bags, cans, jars and unshelled, have experienced a drop in sales but this pattern reflects the typical seasonal pattern seen for each of the past four years.

Nielsen stated that it will update the information at the end of the next four-week period to further measure the effect the outbreak and resulting recalls have had on consumer behavior.