There is no major nationwide peanut butter recall active in the United States as of mid-2025. The most recent large-scale recall involved Jif peanut butter in May 2022, when dozens of products were pulled from shelves due to Salmonella contamination. If you’re concerned about a jar in your pantry, here’s how to check whether it’s affected and what to do if it is.
The Most Recent Major Recall: Jif (2022)
In May 2022, the FDA announced a recall of select Jif peanut butter products manufactured by the J.M. Smucker Company. The recall was tied to a Salmonella outbreak that sickened 21 people across 17 states, with 4 hospitalizations and no deaths. It covered a wide range of Jif products, including jars, squeeze pouches, and cups.
To check whether a jar in your home is part of this recall, flip it over and find the lot code printed on the back, just below the “Best If Used By” date. If the first four digits fall between 1274 and 2140, and the three digits immediately after those are 425, that product was recalled. For example, a lot code starting with 1274425 or 2140425 would be affected. Do not eat the product.
How to Stay Current on Recalls
New recalls can be issued at any time, often for products you wouldn’t expect. The fastest way to check is the FDA’s recall page at fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts or the joint federal site foodsafety.gov/recalls-and-outbreaks, which aggregates alerts from both the FDA and USDA. You can filter by food type or search for “peanut butter” directly. Signing up for email alerts from either site means you’ll hear about a new recall within hours of the announcement.
What to Do With a Recalled Product
If you find a recalled jar in your pantry, you have two options: return it to the store where you bought it for a full refund, or throw it away. If you throw it away, make sure it goes into a sealed bag in the trash so no one else can access it.
If you’ve already used the recalled peanut butter, cleaning matters. Wash any surfaces, utensils, or containers that came into contact with it using hot, soapy water. The FDA specifically recommends sanitizing countertops, knives, and cutting boards. If you stored the peanut butter in a reusable container, wash that thoroughly with hot, soapy water before using it again.
Why Peanut Butter Gets Contaminated
Peanut butter seems like an unlikely home for bacteria because it’s dry and oily, but that’s actually part of the problem. Salmonella can survive in low-moisture, high-fat environments for a surprisingly long time. Research from the International Association for Food Protection found that Salmonella can persist in contaminated peanut butter for at least 15 weeks at both room temperature and refrigerated conditions. The fat in peanut butter may actually shield bacteria from the acidic conditions that would kill them in other foods.
Contamination typically happens at the manufacturing facility rather than in your kitchen. Bacteria can enter through raw peanuts, contaminated water, or equipment that wasn’t properly sanitized between production runs. Once Salmonella gets into a processing line, it can be difficult to eliminate because the low moisture of peanut butter lets the bacteria hunker down and survive.
Symptoms of Salmonella Exposure
If you ate a recalled product, watch for symptoms that typically appear 6 hours to 6 days after exposure. The most common signs are diarrhea (sometimes bloody), stomach cramps, fever, nausea, and vomiting. For most healthy adults, symptoms resolve on their own within a few days. Young children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems face a higher risk of serious illness that may require hospitalization.
Safe Storage Practices
Proper storage won’t protect you from a contaminated batch, but it does help with general food safety. An unopened jar of commercial peanut butter keeps for up to a year in a cool, dark spot like a pantry. Once opened, it stays good for about six months without refrigeration. Natural peanut butters with no preservatives have a shorter window and benefit from refrigeration after opening.
Interestingly, refrigerating peanut butter does not kill Salmonella faster. Research shows the bacteria actually decline more slowly at refrigerator temperatures than at room temperature, though neither condition eliminates them reliably. This is why contamination at the factory level is so critical to prevent: once bacteria are in the jar, home storage won’t fix the problem.