With announcements of peanut plant closings and the steady rise of peanut-related salmonella outbreaks and even deaths, you may have thrown out your jar of peanut butter without reading where the peanuts came from. But did you think to check the label of your breakfast bar, cereal, ice cream or cookie mix? Recent estimates indicate that this recall -- one of the largest in history -- has spread across 43 states,leaving more than 500 people sick, eight dead and causing nearly 2,000 products to be pulled from shelves, vending machines and hopefully out of the recipes from restaurant menus. AOL Health called on Elizabeth Andress, PhD Food Science, Professor of Foods and Nutrition and Extension Food Safety Specialist at the University of Georgia to answer all our questions about keeping safe without suffering from total peanut withdrawal.

AOL Health: How should consumers react to peanut plant closings and investigations?

Andress: Pay close attention to the news and keep up with the Food and Drug Administration's news and advice. In this particular instance, the manufacturers are also maintaining customer service recall hotlines. Even if you find that you don't have something currently on the recall list, your first choice is don't eat it if you don't know or are worried it may become recalled in the future -- your second choice is call the manufacturer for more information. In this case, many major brands not included in the recall have issued disclaimer notices on their Web sites saying they did not use peanuts from contaminated plants.

AOL Health: Should peanut butter be the only thing consumers worry about? Should other peanut-based foods be given scrutiny?

Andress: Major brands of jarred peanut butter are not actually affected by this particular recall. This company [Peanut Corporation of America] put out bulk that manufacturers used as an ingredient in ice creams, cookies, granola mixes, pet food and more.

AOL Health: What should you know before eating out?

Andress: At the restaurant ask servers which dishes contain peanuts or peanut products. Obviously there is a little bit of a gap as to how well informed they are. You can always ask to check with the chef. Or, don't order the item if they can't definitively say whether it contains peanuts. Not every dish will be obvious -- some Thai dishes may have peanut butter or peanut granules in them and you might not know that up front. Restaurants are pretty well attuned to peanuts because they are an allergen.

AOL Health: Can companies' Web sites with information about peanut recall and safety information be trusted?

Andress: If it's the manufacturer's Web site and they are making a definitive statement, 'No, we have not bought products from these [contaminated] plants,' you should trust this information. They would not risk saying this in such a public way.

AOL Health: Where is the best, most reliable and updated source of product recall lists?

Andress: The FDA's Web site is updated regularly for product recalls and the Center for Disease Control's salmonella outbreak page has updates on reported cases.

AOL Health: What are some of the reasons the peanut industry has had to close plants and issue so many recalls?

Andress: It comes down to resource issues. There is a limited number of people to do these inspections. The FDA has received a lot of criticism for failure to respond quickly. But what hasn't been talked about is the fact that the FDA has been given a whole lot of responsibility with no real increase in funding. There needs to be more funding for food safety in this country.

If you have a major food company that can afford to do their own inspections, they probably have a leg up on other companies. There is not that same corporate oversight for smaller companies.

What we have in many parts of the country are aging food plants. In ConAgra's recent Peter Pan peanut butter recall one discovery was leaks in the building. In a recent canned food recall, again one issue that surfaced was aging facility problems... while they may not be the sole cause of contaminated food, it points out that older facilities not kept up regularly can be hard to then clean up to meet our current facility standards.

AOL Health: Is it true that state and federal inspectors do not require the peanut industry to inform the public or even the government about each positive salmonella test in its products?

Andress: That would be true for the peanut industry as well as some other food manufacturers. This information is considered "proprietary" -- private -- and belongs to the company. There have been some calls for more openness to reporting these findings. What is important in the system now is that product testing positive for certain contaminants is not to enter the marketplace.

Another important thing to understand is that the FDA does not actually have the authority to recall a lot of food out of the marketplace. They have to work with the company to get the recalls out of the marketplace. There have been calls to give the FDA more authority to issue recalls.

AOL Health: Would giving the FDA more authority help improve food safety?

Andress: The authority is probably only as good as the resources to enforce it. More authority could probably impact food safety for the better, but if they don't have the resources [improvements may be difficult].

AOL Health: How often do companies do their own testing for salmonella? How often do state and federal inspectors come in?

Andress: It would depend on the actual product it has and what kind of risk level it has. Again it really depends on the nature of the business. Meat and poultry product plants usually have to have inspectors present every time they're running the product. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FDA do not actually have a lot of authority unless interstate transport and sales are involved. Some states, however, require federal oversight regardless.

AOL Health: Are grocery stores and restaurants required to pull all recalled products? Is this an honors system, or is there some sort of check for this?

Andress: They are to remove them from their shelves. Where there is difficulty, is how fast this news is spread and therefore how quickly they can respond. Big chains probably have mechanisms in place to put these recall procedures into place and react immediately. Mom and pop places probably have to keep up with the news and proactively seek out product recall lists.

That check would most likely totally depend on state or local resources. In Georgia, our State Department of Agriculture is responsible for inspecting food sales. We don't have an inspector in every county. They aren't going to be there immediately the next day. Whereas the restaurant industry is inspected by the department of health which does have county inspectors.

If it's a fairly straightforward recall -- maybe one item is being recalled -- I would expect this product to be off the shelves within a day or two. But the nature with this part recall is very different. They are pulling products from January 2007. [Peanut Corporation of America] is not just recalling things under their own brand name. They're having to contact all of the companies that use their peanuts and peanut paste products as an ingredient, so this one is taking longer than others. Once the item is known and the recall is put out, ideally they would be out in a day or two. Media attention is a good indicator of how quickly it will get resolved. This is getting a lot of media attention.

AOL Health: How long could this go on for?

Andress: I honestly have no idea. This is kind of unprecedented. They're issuing at least 10 notices -- if not more -- a day or so. There's a good chance that some of the recalls are no longer in the marketplace, but since they concern shelf-stable foods like pastes and trail mixes they may still be sitting on people's shelves. If you have it around, you need to not eat it.

AOL Health: Where should people go if they think they've been infected?

Andress: If you think you're sick from any bacterial illness get medical attention first. Particularly if you're a younger person, an older person or have pre-existing medical condition. Then, contact your regional FDA office and let them know. Unless your doctor actually does a specimen testing -- usually this is a stool sample analysis -- your case won't get recorded.

AOL Health: Recent news reports indicate that 19,000 people across 43 states have been affected, leading to eight deaths. Why did some cases lead to death?

Vulnerable populations -- with weakened natural immunity -- are probably going to get sick at a lower dose than someone with a healthy immune system and have more severe symptoms. It relates to how well your body can handle and fight off disease and symptoms. If you're under the age of five years old, you're at risk. As you age, the more likely you are to get sick and get worse symptoms. Pregnant women are more at risk as you're immune system is more susceptible to illness and infection, as are those living with chronic diseases, such as kidney disease, heart disease, AIDS and being treated for cancer.

AOL Health: How could theses deaths have been averted?

Andress: I can't speak to what happened to those people specifically, but generally, not to have eaten contaminated product and not to delay in seeking medical attention [could have help these deaths be adverted]. And had everyone in the food chain -- growers, manufacturers, retailers, inspectors -- averted putting contaminated food out, that could have helped.

AOL Health: Could the cost of health care and increase of uninsured and underinsured impact the number of salmonella cases that have been reported?

Andress: It could impact the number of cases that are reported. Another factor we have is if your doctor just treats symptoms it will never get reported without laboratory testing.

AOL Health: When will it be clear that the crisis has passed?

Andress: I have no idea when. Obviously because of the attention this is getting [the end] will be [covered] in mass media news. I cannot even begin to guess how long this is going to go on.

AOL Health: What's to say this won't happen again?

Andress: An important factor is that we learn from the mistakes. There needs to be more oversight, more openness of test findings before products go to market. We need to fix our food system. We need to take a hard look at our regulatory system -- the roles of the FDA and the USDA in food safety.

AOL Health: Are you avoiding peanut-based products?

Andress: I have made sure I am not consuming anything that's part of the recall. I am not worried about my peanut butter at all. I personally do not usually eat any snack foods that have these peanut and peanut-based ingredients in them like granola, ice cream and candies. I am certainly making sure I am not buying anything new in the kinds of products being recalled unless I can confirm from the manufacturer they don't buy ingredients from the affected plant.But I realize that with products being added every day that it's hard to keep up. I have a kind of granola bar that hasn't been included in the recall list yet -- I'm not eating it but I'm not throwing it out either until we know more.