Pistachios Recalled In Wake Of Positive Salmonella Tests
March 31, 2009 Setton Pistachio, CA, of Terra Bella Inc., the nation’s second-largest pistachio processor, has voluntarily recalled more than 2 million pounds of its roasted nuts after Kraft Foods Inc. notified FDA March 24 it had detected salmonella in roasted pistachios through routine product testing. Setton Pistachio took additional steps to prevent potentially tainted nuts from reaching consumers by shutting down its plant at the end of the week.
FDA is advising consumers not to eat any foods containing pistachios, and to hold onto any pistachio products they may have already purchased. California public health officials have taken hundreds of samples at Setton Pistachio’s processing facility, but lab results have not yet determined whether salmonella was found at the plant. The companies’ own tests of the contaminated products isolated four different types of salmonella, but none were the same as the one found in peanuts during a national salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds of people in fall of 2008.
Needless to say, the announcement has made some members of the California pistachio industry very nervous, and rather irate. One worried California grower is Larry Easterling, who farms 1,870 acres of pistachios in the San Joaquin Valley near where Highway 41 intersects Interstate 5. “It feels like the roof fell in on us,” Easterling said Tuesday afternoon in the wake of the FDA’s warning against eating any pistachio products. “What’s really blowing us away is that with the peanut recall, they didn’t come out with a blanket statement, ‘Don’t eat peanuts.”
When the peanut recall was ordered, said Easterling, the FDA was much more specific, but in this instance, the entire pistachio industry is being unfairly tarred. “That didn’t happen with peanuts,” he said. “And in this situation there have been no reported serious illnesses or deaths (as there was with the peanut outbreak).”
Easterling, who sells 30% of his crop to Setton’s, said while the nuts in question may have originated there, he feels confident that the problem is with the “rebaggers,” companies that process the nuts for sale to consumers. “They totally dress up the product any way they want it,” he said.
Besides the immediate hit to the industry, which will likely be considerable, Easterling said that the FDA’s announcement could have long-lasting repercussions. Approximately 65% of the U.S. crop is exported, and the largest export market is Europe. It’s taken U.S. growers years to develop that market, which could be severely damaged. “Iran (the world’s largest grower, with California #2) is going to get hold of this announcement and talk to European buyers,” he said. “We need to get this resolved really quick.”
Kraft Foods Inc. and the Georgia Nut Co. recalled their Back To Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix March 25. FDA contacted Setton Pistachio and California health officials shortly after the report from Kraft Foods Inc. On March 27, Kroger Co. recalled one of its lines of bagged pistachios because of possible salmonella contamination; Setton Pistachio supplies the nuts for those products, which were sold in 31 states.
So far, Setton Pistachio has recalled certain bulk roasted in-shell and roasted shelled pistachios that were shipped on or after Sept. 1. The recalled nuts represent a small fraction of the 55 million pounds of pistachios the company’s plant processed last year and an even smaller portion of the 278 million pounds produced in the state in the 2008 season, according to the Fresno-based Administrative Committee for Pistachios.
Because Setton Pistachio shipped tote bags of nuts weighing up to 2,000 pounds to 36 wholesalers across the country, it will take weeks to figure out how many products could be affected, according to Jeff Farrar, chief of the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Public Health.
Two people called FDA complaining of gastrointestinal illness that may have been caused by consuming the pistachios, but the link has not been confirmed yet.
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