Afraid to eat peanut butter? Make your own.

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There are entire songs dedicated to it. The pickiest, finickiest of folks will accept it. And it can add flair to just about anything you eat. Peanut butter. For some people, it’s a food group all its own. But warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have people wondering if they should be eating it at all. The latest news has a Texas connection, with a Plainview peanut processing plant under scrutiny According to the FDA, more than 500 people in the United States have contracted salmonella from products with peanut butter. The key here, said Dr. Anish Masharani with Texas Children’s Pediatrics Associates, is “products.” Packaged food with peanut butter added to it should be avoided for now. “The only other thing that’s been found to have issues is the big, institutional- size jars of peanut butter,” Masharani said. “So maybe don’t order it in a restaurant or cafeteria for now.” But peanut butter in the jar at the grocery store is safe, provided you don’t have allergies — but those are a separate issue. Full of healthy fats and protein, peanut butter has plenty of benefits, said Emily Banes, clinical dietitcian at Houston Northwest Medical Center. But do watch portion sizes, Banes said, since two tablespoons pack nearly 200 calories. Since store-bought peanut butter can have lots of sugar and salt, Banes urges making your own. With a juicer or food processor, it’s easy to do. Kids might complain that it’s not as sweet as store-bought, but you can sweeten it up by pairing it with jelly, honey or bananas. Meanwhile, Masharani said incidents of peanut- butter-induced salmonella are on the decline. But it’s still wise to have the facts. First, gastroenteritis is common this time of year, and its symptoms — vomiting and diarrhea — mimic those of salmonella. “You’re not going to test (for salmonella) unless the parents say the child definitely had something on the recall list, or if they are likely to have been exposed,” Masharani said. “You have to have common sense.” And it’s important to note that if you or your child has eaten something on the recall list, it does not mean you will get salmonella. Masharani said it depends on how much salmonella is in that particular batch, and there’s no easy way to test for that. For a list of recalled peanut- butter products, go to www.fda.gov and search “peanut butter” and/or “recall,”, or call 888-463-6332. kimberlywrites@yahoo.com