America’s favorite sandwich was missing its better half.

Peanut butter products were pulled from the dining menus of residence halls and retail operations across campus Monday in light of the recent national outbreak of salmonella, though none of the brands used in University cafeterias were linked with the bacteria. Yesterday, University Housing decided to put the peanut butter products back on the its shelves because the brands the University uses to get these products were not linked to any problems in the Food and Drug Administration investigation of the outbreak.

Peanut butter products were also removed from the vending machines in the residence halls, which are managed by AVI Food Systems.

Residential Dining Services staff received an e-mail on Monday from University Housing administrators advising them to suspend the use of peanut butter products and to instruct all greeters, cashiers and supervisory staff to explain the situation if customers have questions.

“There is information coming from the FDA directing the public to refrain from purchasing and consuming peanut butter,” the e-mail said. “That alone can create concerns even for those products deemed safe.”

The e-mail also instructed staffers to post signs at the greeter and cashier stations and on vending machines to explain the situation and to assure customers that all products sold haven’t been recalled.

The University restored the peanut products yesterday after the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control traced sources of the salmonella outbreak to a processing plant in Blakely, Georgia owned by Peanut Corporation of America that produces peanut butter and peanut paste, according to the FDA website.

Residential Dining Services doesn’t use any PCA products.

“We suspended any offering of peanut butter or products made with peanut butter just in deference to the FDA warning to consumers,” University Housing spokesman Peter Logan said. “However, we now know that none of the peanut butter brand or peanut butter chips that we use in our baking products had been identified as a product at risk.”

The Residential Dining Services plan to keep any recalled brands that have not yet been approved by the FDA from dining hall shelves until further notification is received, Logan said.

The Residential Dining Services administrators had been working with Occupational Safety and Environmental Health representatives to monitor the salmonella situation before the product was voluntarily recalled on Jan. 12, Logan said.

The types of peanut butter products that were recalled are widely distributed for use in goods such as cookies, cereal and ice cream, but are only available to institutions and food manufacturers, not directly to customers. A full list of recalled products is available on the FDA’s website.

Salmonella is a bacterial infection that causes fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. It can result in severe and sometimes fatal infections in young children and elderly individuals. This most recent outbreak has already sickened almost 450 people nationwide, including 25 in Michigan.