About a million jars of peanut butter are being dumped into a New Mexico landfill after the bankrupt Sunland Inc. was unable to unload the food at Costco or food banks.

According to the Associated Press, the peanut butter came from Sunland Inc., a bankrupt peanut-processing plant, which was reportedly linked to a salmonella outbreak back in 2012. A nationwide recall took effect after 41 salmonella cases in 20 states were reported.

The company said that Costco Wholesale reportedly refused to sell the product. The chain also did not want the jars donated to food banks in the area or repackaged for fear of another outbreak. The 950,000 peanut butter jars are estimated at about $2.6 million in value.

Bankruptcy trustee Clarke Coll said Sunland inc. considered all options, but could not come up with an agreement. Coll stated there was nothing wrong with the peanut butter, but Costco considered the product "not merchantable." Coll disagreed stating that "all parties agreed there's nothing wrong with the peanut butter from a health and safety issue."

The AP reported that since the company shut down and filed for bankruptcy, the jars of peanut butter have been sitting in a warehouse. The company is paying $60,000 to have the product go to the Curry County landfill in Clovis, New Mexico, where it will be covered with waste and dirt. The last of 58 truckloads was expected Friday.

"Those trucks carrying it to the dump went right by the front door of my food bank. It wasn't like it would have been out of the way," Melinda Joy Pattison, executive director of the Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico, said. "For it to just be deliberately thrown away is disappointing."