Coles peanut butter recall after cancer-causing toxin found
Coles has issued a major product recall after two of its home-brand peanut butter products were found to be contaminated with a toxin.
Coles Smooth Peanut Butter 1kg and Coles Crunchy Peanut Butter 1kg jars sold between the of May and June this year have been recalled nationally due to aflatoxin contamination.
Aflatoxin is a biotoxin that can cause injury or illness if consumed.
It comes from a family of toxins that is found on crops including corn and peanuts.
Exposure to aflatoxins has been associated with an increased risk of liver cancer.
Coles is recalling two peanut butter products after a potentially toxic contamination.
Food Standards has warned consumers not to eat the product and to return it to their place of purchase.
Customers should beware of any product with the best before date of 5 February 2027.
Anyone concerned about their health should seek medical advice.
Anyone who bought the peanut butter products can return the jars to any Coles supermarket for a full refund, online customers can contact Coles Online Customer Care.
Coles apologised to customers 'for any inconvenience'.
Read related topics: Coles
Brendan Kearns
Cadet Journalist
Brendan Kearns is a cadet journalist with News Corp Australia. He has written for The Australian, the Herald Sun, the Geelong Advertiser, CHOICE, Cosmos, and The Citizen. He won Democracy's Watchdogs' Student Award for Investigative Journalism 2024 and hosted the third season of award-winning podcast Uncurated. He studied as Master of Journalism at The University of Melbourne, before that he worked as a video producer and disability worker.
@brendandkearns
Brendan Kearns
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
What parents need to know about alleged sexual offences at a Melbourne childcare centre
A health response has been initiated in Victoria after a childcare worker was charged with sexual assault offences against eight children at a facility in Melbourne's south west. Joshua Dale Brown, 26, is facing more than 70 charges, including child rape, possession of child abuse material, and reckless contamination of goods to cause alarm or anxiety, police said on Tuesday. Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex abuse that may distress some audience members. The charges relate to eight children enrolled at the Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023, but Mr Brown had also been employed with at least 20 other childcare centres across Melbourne between 2017 and 2025. As part of a multi-agency response, 2,600 families whose children attended the relevant childcare centres over the period the alleged offender worked there have been contacted. Authorities have also recommended 1,200 children undergo screening for certain infectious diseases due to what they say is the "manner of the alleged offending". If you believe you may have been impacted and need advice on where to go from here, including whether you need to get your children tested, here's what you need to know. Eight families whose children Mr Brown was charged with sexually offending against at the Point Cook centre were notified last week. "As you can imagine, this was deeply distressing for the families to hear. We work with our partner agencies to put all support in place to assist them through this difficult period," Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam said. On Tuesday, all families whose children were enrolled at the 20 childcare centres listed during Mr Brown's employment there were sent letters containing advice on behalf of the Victorian Department of Health and Victoria Police. In other cases, contact has been made via email or text message. Mr Brown's period of employment at each childcare centre varies from a single day to more than a year. If you haven't been contacted but hold concerns about your child being at a centre at a certain time, you can check the full list of impacted centres below. Victoria's Chief Health Officer Christian McGrath said on Tuesday that the parents, guardians and carers of 1,200 children had been contacted for precautionary infectious disease screening. "Health advice has been stood up to ensure families are able to easily access health advice and the special services we think they need," he said. "As a precaution, we are recommending that some children undergo testing for infectious diseases due to a potential exposure risk in that period … we do believe it's a low risk, but we want to offer this to provide assurance to the parents about the health and wellbeing of their children." Dr McGrath did not elaborate on what specific types of infection the testing was for, citing families' privacy. He stressed the recommendations were made out of an "abundance of caution". The wider community has also been reassured the infections can be treated with antibiotics and that there was no broader public health risk to the community. Dr McGrath said a dedicated advice and support hotline had been set up to provide families and health with screening information, as well as linking them to specialist support, including mental health and wellbeing services. "When parents, guardians or carers call this number, they'll be provided with health advice, including whether testing is recommended for their children," he said. "We'll also support them to book in that testing and it'll be provided free of charge." You can call the dedicated advice line on 1800 791 241 if you hold concerns for your child, or need clarification about your infectious disease screenings. The line is open 7 days a week — 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. Affected families can also find further information on the state government website here. Parents are also urged to speak with their own GPs to discuss any specific health concerns relating to their children. For advice on how to discuss the incident with your kids with care and to minimise trauma, you can refer to advice available on Victoria's Better Health Channel here. Families who may have been affected and require testing for infectious diseases are being contacted directly by health department and police officials. Dr McGrath said not every child who attended the 20 listed childcare centres will be recommended for testing as they wouldn't have been identified as having a potential exposure risk. To facilitate screening for the 1,200 listed children, health officials are also organising direct referrals to medical centres around Melbourne, as well as coordinating with the laboratories to ensure a timely turnaround of the results. Police said the investigation against Joshua Brown began in May after detectives came in possession of alleged child abuse material implicating him. Police have not specified how they were led to that material. They said they had not received any formal complaints in relation to his alleged sexual offending. The 26-year-old was not known to police prior to May and was employed as a childcare worker at the time of his arrest. Mr Brown had a valid Working with Children Check (WWCC), a mandatory certification for most people looking to work or volunteer in child-related industries in Victoria. The WWCC is obtained through Service Victoria and involves assessment of an individual's criminal record across Australian states and territories, their professional conduct, compliance with historical and current health practitioner legislation, and current or historical reporting obligations or orders under the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 or the Serious Offenders Act 2018. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the screening process for the checks would be reviewed in an investigation by state police and early childhood regulator. Police said Mr Brown's WWCC had been cancelled as soon as his alleged offending came to light. Victoria's Deputy Police Commissioner said lifting a suppression on his identity on Tuesday was an "unusual decision", but one taken in the interest of the community. The investigation remains ongoing. Mr Brown is due to appear in court in September.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Another melioidosis case diagnosed in Queensland as two more deaths recorded
Another case of the potentially deadly disease melioidosis has been diagnosed in Queensland. Melioidosis is prevalent in northern Australia, where the bacteria that causes it can be found in soil and water. The bacteria can enter the body through cuts, inhalation or drinking contaminated water. Outbreaks of the illness are often observed during the wet season or flooding. Above-average rainfall hit north Queensland at the start of the year and by May Townsville recorded its wettest year on record. This year 236 people have been diagnosed with melioidosis in Queensland. It is the worst year for melioidosis in Queensland since records began in 1981 — of those cases 34 have been fatal. Queensland Health said another case of melioidosis had been identified in the last seven days in the Cairns and Hinterland Health Service area. During the last week health authorities also found that two patients who contracted melioidosis in Feburary and March had died as a result of the illness. Queensland Health data shows the 2025 melioidosis outbreak peaked in January. Since late April case numbers have not peaked above the five-year average. Most melioidosis cases this year were recorded in Cairns, where there were 123 patients, followed by Townsville, where 86 infections were recorded. Melioidosis is rare among healthy adults and children. The risk is greater for people with health conditions such as diabetes or cancer.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Prescription drug overdoses driving death toll
Isabella Higgins: In just one year, more than 2,000 Australians died of a drug overdose. Most were unintentional deaths. That's the stark headline figure of new analysis being released this week looking into drug-induced deaths. And advocates say illegal drugs aren't the only problem. Here's National Health Equity reporter, Caitlyn Gribbin. Caitlyn Gribbin: There's a stereotype about drug-related deaths that John Ryan wants to put a stop to. John Ryan : That idea that it's only illegal drugs is wrong. The overdose toll is actually made up of some people that inject drugs, definitely, but much of the overdose toll is people that are using pharmaceutical drugs, prescription drugs. Caitlyn Gribbin: John Ryan's the chief executive of the Penington Institute, a not-for-profit drug research group. It's released new research revealing 189 fatal overdoses every four weeks. Proof, Mr Ryan insists, that a new approach is needed to deal with dangerous drug use. John Ryan : We're losing the equivalent of a Boeing 737 full of Australians every month. The overdose toll has long exceeded the road toll. Caitlyn Gribbin: Early analysis of the report breaks down the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data on drug-induced deaths, which is from 2023. Overdose deaths were down 6% on the previous year, but John Ryan says figures will increase when ABS data revisions come in. The numbers are confronting, with nearly 2,300 people dying of a drug overdose. More than three-quarters were unintentional deaths. Opioids such as heroin and pharmaceutical opioids remain the most common drug type involved in unintentional deaths, contributing to almost half. But the proportion of drug-related fatalities involving stimulants such as methamphetamine and also cocaine increased on previous years. Amanda Roxburgh : Australia is a major destination for methamphetamine. We've got high numbers of large seizures being detected at our borders. Caitlyn Gribbin: Amanda Roxburgh, a senior research fellow and clinical psychologist at medical research organisation the Burnet Institute, says the highly potent crystal methamphetamine is the predominant stimulant drug now being used in Australia. Amanda Roxburgh : We're not only seeing increases in deaths related to methamphetamine, but we're also seeing increases in methamphetamine-related hospitalisations. So it's relatively cheap to buy and it's really readily available. Caitlyn Gribbin: The Penington analysis also found drug-induced deaths involving stimulants overtook benzodiazepines like Valium as the second most common drug type involved in fatal overdoses. Most drug overdoses are polysubstance overdoses. They involve more than one drug. John Ryan says pharmaceutical opioids such as codeine and oxycodone and those from the benzodiazepine family such as diazepam or Valium are commonly involved in overdose deaths. John Ryan : The daughter of a friend of mine who went through a messy divorce ended up on benzodiazepines to manage the stress and anxiety and one night drank a bit more red wine than normal, fell asleep on the couch and was found dead the next day. An absolutely tragic example of a middle-aged woman with two young children who died from a combination of prescribed pharmaceuticals and alcohol. Most of these deaths are occurring in private homes and often it's lounge rooms in suburbia and regional and rural towns. Caitlyn Gribbin: Mr Ryan says only a small amount of funding goes to harm reduction such as overdose education, the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, drug testing and safe injecting facilities. A much bigger share goes to law enforcement. The full overdose report will be out this year. Isabella Higgins: Caitlin Gribbin reporting. In a statement the Federal Department of Health says the National Drug Strategy provides a commitment to harm minimisation through a balanced adoption of evidence-based demand, supply and harm reduction strategies.
