Peter Pan is an American brand of

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food Paste (food), paste or Spread (food), spread made from Grinding (abrasive cutting), ground, dry roasting, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, ...

that is marketed by

Post Consumer Brands Post Consumer Brands, LLC (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known simply as Post) is an American consumer packaged goods food manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, own ...

, part of

Post Holdings Post Holdings, Inc. is an American Fast-moving consumer goods, consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri with businesses operating in the center-of-the-store, refrigerated, foodservice, and food ingredient categ ...

. Named after the

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

character, the product was introduced by

Swift & Company JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is a meat processing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian multinational JBS S.A. The subsidiary was created when JBS entered the U.S. market in 2007 with its purchase of Swift & Company. JBS USA is bas ...

through its Derby Foods subsidiary, E.K. Pond Company. It was renamed "Peter Pan" in 1928. Plastic jars were introduced in 1988, for product sold in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

History

Peter Pan’s origins date to 1915, when Derby Foods manufactured peanut butter under the name of its subsidiary, the E.K. Pond Company. Edmund Kirk Pond was the company’s namesake, and the cousin of Henry Clay Derby, whose Derby Foods was the parent entity. Edmund Pond died in 1900, and Henry Derby sold the enterprise to Swift & Company in 1904. E.K. Pond Company also marketed its peanut butter under its "Yankee" and "Toyland" brands, but without much success. Meanwhile, in 1921, Joseph L. Rosefield patented a nonseparating, partially hydrogenated peanut oil

. In 1923, he licensed his patent to Derby Foods, which initially marketed the product under the name “Dainty” or “Delicia." It did not sell well. The greatest boost to sales came when, in 1928, Derby Foods seized upon the popularity of the James M. Barrie play by appropriating the title character for its brand name. Peter Pan Peanut Butter became a best seller. Originally packaged in a tin can with a turn key and reclosable lid, the product's packaging was changed to glass jars because of metal shortages during World War II. In 1988, Peter Pan was the first brand of peanut butter to be sold in plastic jars. The product was the main ingredient in Frankford Candy & Chocolate Company's now-discontinued product, Peter Pan Peanut Butter Cups. On December 8, 2020, Conagra announced that it would sell the Peter Pan brand to

. The transaction was completed on January 25, 2021.

Promotion

Past spokesmen for Peter Pan have included actor

Sterling Holloway Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 14, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in ''Dumbo'', Adult Flower in ...

, actor

Mark Linn-Baker Mark Linn-Baker (born Mark Linn Baker; June 17, 1954) is an American actor and Television director, director who played Benjy Stone in the film ''My Favorite Year'' and Larry Appleton in the television situation comedy, sitcom ''Perfect Strangers ...

, comedian

Alan Sues Alan Grigsby Sues (March 7, 1926 – December 1, 2011) was an American actor and comedian widely known for his roles on the 1968–1973 television series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Sues's on-screen persona was campy and outrageous. Typical o ...

, and game show host

Art James Art James (born Arthur Simeonovich Efimchick; October 15, 1929 – March 28, 2004) was an American game-show host, best known for shows such as '' The Who, What, or Where Game''; '' It's Academic''; and '' Pay Cards!'' He was also the announce ...

. In earlier versions of the product, Peter Pan was clearly pictured as a woman in a Peter Pan costume, rather than as a boy.

Varieties

Peter Pan Peanut Butter is currently sold in 10 varieties: Creamy Original, Crunchy Original, Creamy Whipped, Creamy Honey Roast, Crunchy Honey Roast, Natural Creamy, Natural Creamy Honey Roast, Original Almond Butter, Vanilla Roast Almond Butter, and Honey Roast Almond Butter.

Recall

In February and March 2007, Peter Pan and some

Great Value Walmart, Walmart, Inc., like many large retail and grocery chain stores, uses a brand strategy that offers private brands (private label, store brand) and generic brand merchandise. Apparel brands Major brands In March 2018, to better compet ...

(

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

's store brand) peanut butters were linked to 425 cases of

salmonellosis Salmonellosis is a symptomatic infection caused by bacteria of the ''Salmonella'' type. It is the most common disease to be known as food poisoning (though the name refers to food-borne illness in general). These are defined as diseases, usuall ...

across the United States.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

officials believe this is the first ''Salmonella'' outbreak involving peanut butter to occur in the United States. The recall involved both Peter Pan and some Great Value peanut butter with a product code starting with the digits "2111". The recall included all ConAgra-produced peanut butter sold in the United States since October 2004. Peter Pan products returned to stores in late August 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter Pan (Peanut Butter) Peanut butter brands Peter Pan Products introduced in 1928 Post Consumer Brands brands