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Food kits recently distributed as part of a disaster relief effort in Kentucky and Arkansas may contain peanut butter contaminated with salmonella linked to a nationwide outbreak, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.

“Commercial meals kits manufactured by Red Cloud Food Services Inc., under the Standing Rock label, have been provided to disaster survivors in impacted communities, and these kits may contain peanut butter which is part of the precautionary national recall underway in accordance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” FEMA said in a written statement.

Though the kits do not all contain the same main course, they do contain packets of peanut butter, the agency said.

“People who have received commercial meal kits are asked to inspect the kits in their possession and immediately dispose of any peanut butter packets,” it said.

Jay Blanton, spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, said late Wednesday: “We just received this information from FEMA. Tonight, out of an abundance of caution, we are in the process of finding alternative sources of food for people in shelters. The Kentucky National Guard is starting to notify people who’ve already received the (meal kits) or might be getting one.”

Blanton estimated that 6,000 to 7,000 people remained in shelters, primarily in western Kentucky.

Of officials’ reactions to the salmonella warning, he said: “We’re pretty resilient. We’ve had a lot thrown in our way and we’re coming through it. FEMA has been working closely with us, and they assure us this is a precautionary measure.”

The meals were sent in the wake of President Barack Obama’s federal disaster declarations for Kentucky and Arkansas after they were hammered last week with rain, ice and snow.

No one at Red Cloud Food Services, based in South Elgin, Illinois, responded immediately to e-mails.

The meals were sent in the wake of President Barack Obama’s federal disaster declarations for Kentucky and Arkansas after they were hammered last week with rain, ice and snow.

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration linked a nationwide outbreak of salmonella poisoning that has sickened more than 500 people and may have killed eight others to peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America at its plant in Blakely, Georgia.

FDA said PCA could have distributed contaminated product to more than 100 companies for use as an ingredient in hundreds of products, including cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream.

Federal authorities have initiated a criminal investigation into the company.

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