St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix says it’s desperate to refill its warehouses after a recent peanut butter recall. As KJZZ’s Peter O’Dowd reports, the group was already facing a food shortage. 

PETER O’DOWD: Food donations were down 20 to 30 percent compared to a year ago. Then, things got worse. The grocer Trader Joe’s recalled its peanut butter after salmonella was discovered in the product. Saint Mary’s Jerry Brown says the food bank responded by throwing away 12,000 cases of peanut butter in its three warehouses. Now, the food supply at St. Mary’s is down 50 percent.

JERRY BROWN: Right now we have pretty much kept peanut butter off the shelves. That’s a real key item for our emergency food boxes. So that really does affect us right now.

O’DOWD: The food bank says it hasn’t been forced to ration non-perishable food since the economic downtown in 2008. But a food box that might typically hold 10 items now has only six or seven.

More on St. Mary's Food Bank.

More from the FDA on the peanut butter recall.