January 12, 2010 | Royce Eddington

If you recently bought any of the following products from Hy-Vee, CUB, Rainbow, Byerlys Lunds, Target, Whole Foods, Jewel, Dominicks, Marsh, Price Chopper, Shop rite, Nash Finch, Sam’s Club, Costco, or Safeway, you might want to take a look and see if they were made by Parkers Farm.

“~~~16 ounce peanut butter in square plastic containers (tub with snap on lid), varieties are creamy, crunchy, honey creamy and honey crunchy with sell by dates between 11/14/2010 and 12/31/2010**.

~~~34 ounce peanut butter in round plastic containers (tub with snap on lid), varieties are creamy and crunchy with sell by dates between 8/11/2010 and 9/30/2010**.

~~~7 ounce bagel spreads in white plastic containers (tub with snap on lid), varieties are garden veggie, wild berry, strawberry, apple cinnamon and honey walnut) with sell by dates between 5/13/2010 and 6/30/2010**.

~~~14 ounce dips & spreads in square plastic containers (tub with snap on lid), varieties are jalapeño nacho, pimento and salsa con queso with sell by dates between 8/11/2010 and 9/30/2010**.

~~~8 ounce, 12 ounce and 16 ounce cold pack cheese in round or square plastic containers (tub with snap on lid), varieties are sharp cheddar, bacon, onion, smoked cheddar, swiss almond, horseradish, garlic, port wine, and swiss & cheddar with sell by dates between 11/14/2010 and 12/31/2010**.

~~~16 ounce salsa in square plastic containers (tub with snap on lid), varieties are hot, mild, garlic, black bean and fire roasted with sell by dates between 3/14/2010 and 4/30/2010**.”

Turns out all of the above may be contaminated with Listeria.

Listeria is nasty. On the playlist, you have high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, and the possibility of causing miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

So toss ’em if you have ’em.

Here’s the link to the FDA recall article.

It’s nice to see a major government agency taking great strides to keep up with current public expectations.

Today the FDA announced earlier today they have launched the first phase of its Transparency Initiative which will “explain agency operations, how it makes decisions, and the drug approval process.”

The FDA, one of the few agencies who have already fulfilled President Obama’s mandate for more openness in government agencies, is really pulling back the curtain for everyone to see how the machine works. This is wonderful project, and exactly how the rest of the government agencies should work.

Here’s the link to the FDA press release, a link to the FDA Transparency Task Force, a link to FDA Basics, and an Update on Phase I of the Transparency Initiative.