Supermarkets should use their discount card programs that track customers' shopping habits to prevent illness by alerting people who have bought tainted foods, a leading consumer group in the U.S. urged Tuesday.

Such a notification system might have helped avert much confusion over the current peanut recall. Some 900 separate food items — many with a long shelf life — have been recalled because of a salmonella outbreak blamed on tainted peanut products from a single producer in Georgia. Combing through the list can be daunting.

"Many retail chains have within their power the ability to protect consumers," said Sarah Klein, a lawyer with the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"They are routinely collecting customer information and using it for marketing purposes. We'd like to see it used for public health."

The group is urging major national supermarket chains to adopt notification programs for food safety recalls. Some merchants already have. Among them is Costco, whose warehouse stores are open only to members. Others include Wegmans Food Markets and Price Chopper, regional chains in the Northeast.

Craig Wilson, assistant vice-president for food safety at Costco, said the information to reach consumers is already in the company's computers.

Recall list extensive

"When an item goes through a recall, we can pull that item number and generate a telephone or address list very quickly," said Wilson. "It allows us the ability to almost laser-point to an item and when it was purchased."

Costco has used prerecorded phone calls and letters to reach more than 1.5 million customers who bought recalled products, said Wilson. The recall list ranges from cookies and ice cream to Asian-style sauces and even dog treats.

All were made with peanut ingredients from the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Blakely, Ga., which has been shut down by the federal investigation.

Although the company produces only about one per cent of peanut products sold in the United States, its ingredients are used in a huge variety of items sold under such well-known brands as Keebler, Wal-Mart and Trader Joe's.

Some supermarket chains have doubts about setting up an extensive notification system.

"We've done this in the past, but only when a single store is involved in a recall," said Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling. "Company-wide recalls don't lend themselves to this because they are so large."

Long shelf life

Klein said it's not enough to take recalled peanut products off store shelves because they can remain in kitchen cupboards and refrigerators for months.

"When all of the attention to the peanut recall dies down, some of these products will still be around," she said. "Merchants have got the information and the technology exists for them to make a bunch of robo-calls and let us know."

The salmonella outbreak has sickened 550 people and is blamed for at least eight deaths. Although the number of newly reported illnesses appears to be declining, the outbreak continues.

The government says Peanut Corp. shipped products from its Blakely, Ga., plant after tests showed salmonella. The company denies any wrongdoing. The government has opened a criminal investigation.

Also on Tuesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency added another 17 peanut products to its recall list amid the growing outbreak of salmonella contamination linked to peanuts processed in the United States.

The recall included U.S.-made snack bars with brand names including Cinch, Detour and Supreme Protein. Ocean Spray's 170-gram Nut Trail Mix package is also included in the latest recall.