I work at a peanut butter factory. AMAA!

Does peanut butter ever get stuck to the roof of the building?

Once that I know of. When they tested the pigging system. (See the question about crazy stories.)

has anyone ever fallen into a batch of peanut butter? if so, did they ever leave or did they just decide to live there from then on?

There is no way to fall into a batch of peanut butter.

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I dream about him daily. ;)

So... father-figure?

God.

OP has verified with the mods.

Thanks!

How to you get the peanut butter in the Reese's cups?

I don't know. I don't do that. But we do make jars of Reese's peanut butter.

Am I right in thinking that the peanut butter in a Reese's cup is different from the other peanut butters on the market?

Yes.

Is there anything you've seen that would make you stop eating peanut butter?

Absolutely not. It is a very clean environment. Water isn't allowed out on the floor for risk of bacteria. I can't wear my work boots outside of the plant. I have to wear a lab coat and a hair net. The operators wear a uniform that stays at the plant and is washed by an employee. They also wear a hair net and gloves. The peanuts that have not been roasted yet stay in the "raw room" which has no contact with any product that has already been roasted so that salmonella is at a lesser risk.

Brilliant! I can continue with my peanut butter obsession.

Eat on! Since working there I love peanut butter even more. Plus, I get it free.

I just ate some Peanut Butter on toast, Thank you peanut butter god.

You're welcome. I'll be waiting for your nightly prayer.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I thank the gods for the peanut butter to eat. The peanuts digest all through the night, and greet me at the morning's light. Amen

You shall receive many blessings for that.

I would like say thanks for already having a better AMA than the Krispy Kreme guy (no offense to him!). But anyways, how does your employer decide which peanuts are good enough to make their peanut butter?

Honestly, I am not involved in that decision making process. But, if the peanut has already come in and has been roasted, the laser sorter will kick it out if it doesn't look anything like a peanut. I'll try to get a better answer for you at work tomorrow if you'd like.

What happens to the rejected peanuts?

They get put into a tank that is taken to a company that turns it into animal feed.

What is the best thing to put peanut butter on?

In my opinion, bananas. With some honey drizzled on top. Maybe a few chocolate chips thrown on, too.

You know, I couldn't help but read the title of your AMA in a giddy voice. Is working in a peanut butter factory as happy a place to work as I imagine it being?

I would say yes. The employees are very nice and it smells amazing. Sure, it gets messy but it is so incredibly cool.

In reference to the title, what could we possibly not ask you about peanut butter? What secrets are you hiding?

Location, details that could identify me or my employer.

Any crazy stories?

They tested out a pigging system, which is a hockey puck shaped piece that gets sent down a line to flush out peanut butter so that a new recipe can go through. When they first tested it, it shot out of the line and peanut butter went everywhere. Sadly, I wasn't working there at the time but we will be testing again here soon! :D

Do you have a 1000 yard perimeter that pansy allergy sufferers have to stay out of?

We considered armed guards to take them out but decided that if they really wanted in we could just subdue them with some peanuts.

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All of the big names have different recipes and I am sure that some of the little brother brands have similar or the same recipes as the big brands. Personally, I can't tell the difference between certain brands. The main difference in peanut butter recipes are the sweeteners. Whether it is powdered sugar, honey, or chemical sweeteners. But each recipe is made with great care. Many tests are run to make sure that color, consistency, taste, and health standards are all up to the standards that the customer sets.

Dog bless you peanut butter person. Thanks for doing this AMA, bonus question: do you like crunchy or smooth?

Crunchy for me, smooth for the puppa dog. Bonus fact: Crunchy peanut butter is made by just adding in chunks of peanuts to already made smooth peanut butter. My boyfriend always thought that it was just peanut butter that had been ground up less.

Thats what i thought too, my whole world is shattered. My wife refuses to believe it.

Now, this is just for my plant. For big brand named US peanut butter, this is the way it is made. However, I know if I go to Whole Foods and make the peanut butter with the machine there, it is just not ground up as much. :)

Do you make any that's just lightly salted? I think sweet pb taste gross.

We do have some natural peanut butter that has little added ingredients.

How exactly is Peanut butter made? I literally just had some Apple with Peanut butter and sat pondering the whole time.

Unroasted peanuts come in through the door and are then sent through the roaster machine. They are then laser sorted to kick out anything that isn't a peanut. They then go through pumps and put into large bags. Some of the large bags are for the crunchy part and some are to be made into smooth peanut butter. They then go through machines that grind the peanuts into butter. It is then mixed with the proper amount of sweeteners and preservatives for it's formula. After that, it is pumped into the filler that fills jars. The jars then go through a metal detector, then are capped, labeled, heat sealed, tray packed, shrink wrapped, and then stretch wrapped onto a pallet. Raw peanuts in, yummy peanut butter out.

Dear god I thought it would be far more "plastic" than that with a bunch of stuff added in.

Hearing that it is literally kinda just peanuts churned up makes me love it even more. Thanks!

No problem! I can't guarantee that all plants operate the same way but if you're eating US big brand peanut butter then it is likely produced in this fashion. :)

Wait...so you check for peanuts after roasting?

A laser sorter shoots out the shells or anything that isn't a peanut.

What exactly would be in there that "isn't a peanut?"

The red shell that is outside of the peanut after it has been shelled.

What food tastes great with peanut butter that people don't know about?

Hamburgers. I went to Puerto Rico on vacation and there was a peanut butter burger at the restaurant we ate at and it was phenomenal. Sweet relish on one side of the bun, peanut butter on the other, and burger in between.

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Even more than ever.

What exactly do you do on a day at work?

Well, I am an Industrial engineering intern. So in the past few weeks I have watched specific machines on our A line to find out how to make them more efficient and decrease downtime. Right now I am beginning to design a piece of equipment that can help align a skid of empty jars before they go into the depalletizer to be sent down the line and filled.

I have a jar of peanut butter best by June 2012 in my cupboard. Is it still good?

I am not an expert, so I can't comment.

^{I'd eat it.}

Does your factory also produce other nut butters? If so have you tried any & what is your favourite?

No, but it is something we are looking into. Personally, I love Nutella and my boyfriend loves sunflower seed and almond butter.

So, how many pounds of ground-up bugs are actually in the average batch of peanut butter your plant produces? (This question is based on an urban legend from my youth.)

(EDIT): So, OP responded directly to my original question. Thank you all so much, but let's upvote a true hero, like sweet, sweet peantbutterama.

I could not tell you. But, we do have a positive pressure system at doorways and truck loading docks that will send a bug right back out the door. If we did have a way to quantify how many bugs we had, we would have some way to eliminate or decrease that number.

What brand of peanut butter will I most likely never hear about?

This

You're right! I have never heard about that. Is it peanut butter with honey mixed in?

Honey jelly stripes.

does being an employee grant you a specific amount of free peanut butter per year?

Unfortunately I am not entitled to a specific amount. However, I do get unlimited peanut butter. :)

Are you entitled to any perks of working at a peanut butter factory?

Free smells! And peanut butter, of course.

Are you a choosy mother?

No.

For a man who has never tried peanut butter, give me a good reason to do so?

Get off Reddit and go buy a jar of peanut butter. You deserve it.

• How often do they shut down production and clean the machines?
• What is the cleaning process like?
• What is the shut down/start up procedure?

I'm a crunchy type guy!

• It depends on the machine, but everything will be sanitized at least once a week depending on what the machine is. Some are cleaned much more frequently.

• I have not watched a cleaning process for every machine, but some machines get taken apart and each piece is taken to the sanitation area so that it can be properly cleaned and dried before taken back into the plant area.

• Basically, once a new recipe is ready to be put into jars, they pump the lines with some of that peanut butter so that the recipes don't mix. then, they start the filler and begin filling the jars. The first few jars will have to be taken off of the line since they will not be full.

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Oh yeah.

Best solution to the dry-mouth-peanut-butter problem?

Milk?

Was that a question or an answer?

Depends who the person is?

AMA-er is asking us questions!

What has the world come to!?

What HAS it come to?

Read that a jar of peanut butter can have up to 30 insect fragments and a rodent hair per 100 grams (or something along those lines). Is that true? Are there any really gross stories you've heard about people finding weird things in their peanut butter?

I'm sure a bug could get in here or there but we have a positive pressure system at doors and loading docks to suck the bugs and debris back out of the plant. Also, operators are watching constantly and would notice such a thing. If they did, they would take the jar off of the line and toss it. And no gross stories, thankfully.

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PM me your location/willingness to move.

Although I haven't submitted a thought provoking question, all I have to say is thank you for being so interactive with the community. Some AMA's realize what they got into and answer like 3-4 and fall off the face of the earth. You however seem to be an awesome individual, and have a job to match.

I am determined.

How tasty is your peanut butter?

I can eat peanut butter that is two weeks fresh (no earlier) and it is delicious.

Why no earlier?

Samples of the peanut butter are being tested for many bacteria. It is also tested for customer satisfaction standards but the bacteria test is the concern. The tests take up to two weeks to complete.

Any stories of employees that didn't know they were allergic?

No. I assume by this point in life they have been exposed enough to know. And I guess the employees assume you wouldn't apply at a place that makes peanut butter if you're allergic to it since the question never came up during my interview process.

How do you harvest the rape seed oil? I feel like it would border on the illegal.

It's a very messy process. I recommend gloves.

But what about emotional dirtiness? I feel like I'd have to spend a few hours curled up in the fetal position in the shower after a day of doing that. They don't make gloves for your soul.

I know a good psychiatrist.

Do you know how jelly is made?

Honestly, I do not know much since I haven't visited that plant before. I do know that fruit comes in and jelly goes out, but I do not know the specifics. If you would like to know anything specific, I can figure it out for you tomorrow! :)

Peter Pan or Jif?

Never had Peter Pan, to be fair.

Smooth or crunchy?

Crunchy! And smooth for my dog.

As a person who is allergic to peanut butter, I have no questions to ask you.

What's your favorite color?

So what specifically do you do? Is it an assembly line type of factory? What is your role in the process?

I am an industrial engineering intern. I focus on eliminating downtime in order to increase efficiency. Currently I am working on designing something to help align a skid before it enters the depalletizer to increase safety. The operators mainly start up the machines and watch to make sure nothing goes wrong. Occasionally, they may have to stack a skid by hand or glue a label on by hand so there isn't downtime. Everything else is machine operated.

I just wanted to share that as a wee child, my very favorite episode of Mr. Rogers was the one where they show a peanut butter factory.

What sort of qualifications does one need to get a job where you work? I saw you described your job, do you have an engineering degree?

I am a student on a co-op semester. I'm working on the degree! My tuition bill shows it, too, sadly.

What types of pumps do you use to transport the peanut butter from point A to point B? What is the process of turning the roasted peanuts into the paste? What sort of machine will put the peanut butter into the individual packages?

We use a positive displacement pump. A vacuum system sends the peanuts to where they need to go. The peanuts basically go through a machine that grinds them since that is all that it takes to turn peanuts into peanut butter. Additional ingredients such as sweeteners and preservatives are added after the grinding process. We have a filler that fills the jars, one line has a 32 head filler and the other is currently a 10 head filler. But it will soon be replaced with a 28 head filler.

How delicious do you smell at the end of every day?

If my boyfriend picks me up from work he says that he can smell it and it is pretty good. By the end of the day it seems faint to me.

Why do you suppose nobody at that those salmonella factories reported the pigeons flying around and crapping on the peanuts?

What makes you different than them?

Luckily, we were not part of that salmonella breakout. And no birdies in our plant. I suppose poor leadership and no genuine care for the product caused those plants their issues.

Nice, I work at a factory too! How do you like the environment so far?

Personally, although I am not an operator, I love it. It is and isn't the same thing everyday and you always have to be on your toes. Especially with food products.

do you know anyone with an anaphylaxic allergic reaction to peanut butter? any scary stories? any special de-peanut butter techniques used?

My granny. No scary stories. If I were to go to my granny's house I would just wear something that has been washed and wash my hands if I had had peanut butter earlier in the day.

Simple , after working in the factory do you still eat peanut butter?

I want it everyday. The smell...

Have you gained weight since working at the factory? (Since peanut butter is high in fat and calories)

Not yet.

Is anyone who works for the company allergic to peanuts... that would be crazy.

No. I think they'd be dead.