Pistachios Unable To Escape The Peanut Jar
Nuts. Following one of the largest food recalls in history (involving peanut products distributed by PCA), the pattern may be repeating. Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. (in California), is expanding its earlier recall of 2,000,000 pounds of pistachios to include ALL pistachios produced in 2008.
That’s a lot of pistachios. Setton, reportedly, is the second largest pistachio distributor in the nation.
As the FDA and the California Department of Public Health continue to investigate Salmonella contamination in pistachios, Setton voluntarily expanded its March 30, 2008 recall to include all lots of roasted in-shell pistachios and roasted shelled pistachios produced from nuts harvested in 2008. The Company is also recalling all raw shelled pistachios from the 2008 crop that are not subsequently roasted prior to retail sale.
Because the pistachios were sold to numerous downstream customers, and used as ingredients in a wide variety of foods, the expanded recall will likely affect many additional products, and is expected to result in numerous additional recalls. Click on the following link for a searchable database of recalled products. This database is updated continuously by the FDA, and will likely grow as potentially affected products are identified and new recalls are announced.
In the meantime, the FDA is advising wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and food service establishments not to sell or serve any pistachios (or pistachio-containing products) until the original source of the pistachios can be determined. Companies should check with their suppliers to determine whether the source of the pistachios is Setton. Additionally, consumers should not eat pistachios or food products containing them (such as pistachio bakery goods and pistachio ice cream) until they determine that the products are not affected by the recall. Visit the following link for a list of those products NOT believed to be affected by the current recalls.
As noted, the recalls triggered earlier this year by investigations into PCA were some of the largest in history. Thousands of products and hundreds of companies were affected. In turn, as the current pistachio investigation continues, we will wait patiently to see whether, and to what extent, pistachios can distinguish (or, at the very least, unstick) themselves from peanut butter . . .
