Although peanut butter and jelly are the ingredients to a popular sandwich, Georgetown students will have to live without the traditional lunch option – or at least the peanut butter half – for a limited period of time.

The university has recalled all peanut-butter-based products from all dining facilities due to the recent U.S. outbreak of salmonella related to peanut butter.

“There have been countless voluntary recalls placed each day by new vendors who suspect there may be an issue with their products as well. To be 100 percent sure Georgetown students are safe, we pulled all products from our operations,” Andrew Lindquist, the executive director of campus dining services, said.

Georgetown officials maintain they have closely tracked the Food and Drug Administration’s recall of products that might contain the bacteria. Lindquist said that Georgetown University Dining Services is committed to the quality and safety of its products.

“Georgetown Dining/ARAMARK continues to comply with all advisories issued by the [FDA] and our suppliers regarding peanut butter and products containing peanut butter [or] peanut butter paste,” Lindquist said. “All products specified in the FDA and supplier notifications are immediately removed from service operations.”

According to The New York Times, the contamination of peanut butter products has resulted in one of the largest food recalls in history. The contamination originated at the Peanut Corporation of America’s plant in Blakely, Ga. An FDA investigation, which was started at the encouragement of several members of Congress, recently uncovered evidence that the peanut plant knowingly shipped products that had tested positive for salmonella.

ore than 500 people have fallen ill and eight people have died as a result of the contaminated products. Although the Times reported that brand name peanut butters have not been recalled, many products that contained the tainted peanut butter, such as Clif bars and Kellogg’s crackers, have been removed from supermarket shelves.

Although Georgetown’s vendors have removed the products that the FDA has deemed dangerous, Georgetown has taken extra precautions. The university has opted to remove all peanut butter products from campus, according to Lindquist, and is not quite sure when these products will reappear.

“It is unclear at this point when peanut-butter-based products will return,” Lindquist said. “We will continue to monitor all information available from the FDA and our suppliers.”

The Corp has also taken precautions to ensure that the products sold in its campus stores are safe. Although Georgetown did notify The Corp of the recall, it was an employee who first warned management about the salmonella outbreak.

“One of our employees informed our management about the recall and we obtained a list of recalled products I believe within one or two days of the recall being issued. We removed all the affected products – the only significant one being Clif-brand bars – which were returned to our supplier,” said Ryan Callahan (SFS ’10), chief executive officer of The Corp.

The Corp has been assured that the Clif company shut down and cleaned its factories. Although some Clif products have already returned to The Corp’s stores, the full stock, including “Builder’s Bars,” has not yet been replaced.

According to The GW Hatchet, The George Washington University has instituted a policy similar to that of Georgetown. The university has pulled peanut butter products from vending machines, the bookstore and all other food venues. When food recalls are involved, GW follows a “no-tolerance” policy.

“