Salmonella Confirmed In Pistachio Plant That Sparked Nation-Wide Recall

FRESNO, Calif. — Federal officials confirmed Monday they found traces of salmonella in a central California pistachio processing plant that sparked a nationwide recall of the nut.

The Food and Drug Administration said state and federal inspectors discovered the bacteria in "critical areas" at Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc., the second-largest pistachio processor in the nation.

FDA officials also said they found places at the facility where raw and roasted nuts could have become cross-contaminated with salmonella.

Setton Pistachio, which sells its nuts to Kraft Foods Inc. and 35 other wholesalers across the country, temporarily shut down after voluntarily recalling more than 2 million pounds of nuts last week.

The company expanded its recall on Monday to include all raw and roasted pistachios from its 2008 crop. A company spokeswoman did not immediately return messages seeking further details.

"The company is working closely with the FDA on this matter and is cooperating fully," Setton spokeswoman Fabia D'Arienzo said in a statement. "Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. is committed to quality products and consumer safety, and is taking aggressive action to prevent the need for any future recalls."

Federal regulators say consumers should avoid eating pistachios or foods made with the nuts until they can determine that they don't contain any nuts that Setton has recalled. The FDA on Monday also advised wholesalers, retailers, and operators of restaurants and food service establishments against selling or serving any pistachios or pistachio products until they can figure out whether they came from Setton.

No illnesses from consumers eating tainted pistachios have been reported.

The contamination was discovered by a Kraft manufacturer in Illinois, where workers doing routine testing found the bacteria in roasted pistachios about to go into trail mix. Officials traced the source back to the Terra Bella plant that supplied the nuts.

Pistachios are used in everything from ice cream to cake mixes, and the FDA believes more recalls are imminent.

Salmonella, the most common cause of food-borne illness, causes diarrhea, fever and cramping. Most people recover, but the infection can be life-threatening for children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

Roasting is supposed to kill the bacteria in nuts. But problems can occur if the roasting is not done correctly or if roasted nuts are re-contaminated.

Comments

[grn1]

EDP enriched dorman preparation-a preparation derived from a natural source which comprises dormans in a larger concentration than that which is found in a natural unprocessed extract. The EDP may be obtained by purification of a natural extract to obtain fractions which contained dormans in the larger concentrations, e.g by various chromatographic techniques, by filtration, etc. as well as by biological means including growing cells or tissue which are capable of producing dormans under conditions in which they produce dormans in relatively large quantities and collecting their secretion products. In order to determine whether a preparation is an EDP, the preparation may be assayed for a specific biological activity associated with dormans. Taken from US patent 7479287, also stated in patent: In view of the natural origin of the dormans, their administration has NO NOTICABLE toxic effect on cells or tissue on which they are induced to act or on the environment. In addition, at times it may be useful to use such compostions for long term storage of seeds and seedlngs. The present invention thus provides a dorman composition having the activity of slowing or inhibiting the growth of plant seeds and/ or seedlings comprising said dorman extract. End. The treatment of peanuts and pistachos fits a timeline for when last years crops would need this type of preparation???????

[mathme]

Hehe I'm glad that nuts and legumes are a much safer alternative source of protein. I was afraid that meat was going to make me sick.

But really, this is scary! If there was every something that i thought was safe it was nuts, fruits, and vegetables... yikes. I'll just down vitamins and glucose tablets.

[popart]

i dont think we have to worry much about salmonella because a giant asteroid is going to crash into the earth and kill all the pistacio nuts....not to mention the human race...repent the end is near.

[Stilts9]

Who put the pis in the pistachios?

[musicisourhigh]

Why is there regulation? Because too many companies refuse to do the correct thing. Another day another contamination

[MrLeeGreaterHongKong]

Hmm... "The contamination was discovered by a Kraft manufacturer in Illinois, where workers doing routine testing found the bacteria in roasted pistachios about to go into trail mix."

I see no guarantee that the government will do a better job.

[grn1]

On the contrary it is because of government and lobbyist, that food manufactureres and producers are not only held liable but responsible.

[laucarlson]

How do pistachio nuts get contaminated anyway? Isn't salmonella related to animals/in­sects/tain­ted water?? It's inside the processing plant, correct?

[tiredofthesameoldstuff]

The salmonella can live for weeks outside of a host. Even someone who is healthy looking can transmit it to others since they can be a carrier and shed the bacteria. Typhoid fever is caused by a strain of Salmonella.

http://www.safe-poultry.com/controlprogram_AHE.asp lists many of the transmission vectors.

I think perodic screenings of food workers from the stages of harvest to production should be done since the numbers of carriers seem to be increasing each year in the states. Plus migrant workers how many of them do you think would be screened each year or two to make sure they weren't a carrier?

[grateful4thedead]

It is so obvious that this is bush's fault.

[cbates]

No, not true. I think this country makes a grave and potentially tragic mistake when it does not test all its food products coming from offshore to that which is produce on American soil. This act of saving money or being so concerned about cost started in the early 1980s and continues to this day. Some things we must do as a nation and checking the food supply for contamination is one of the most important ones along with all other products coming into this country. I think that inspection is another area that real jobs could be created to prevent us from being a welfare state. Remembering Reagan's greatest contribution to modern society "Trust But Verify".

[mathme]

G4tD is a Bushie troII.

[grn1]

Also what started then was large scale commercial release of genetically engineered agriculture! Trust but verify is a sick joke when it comes to the lax regulatory processes of biotechs policing themselves. Much as the banks did. American soil was what built this country and has been able to feed many in the world with the labor of our hardest working Americans. Only to be usurped by multinational chemical companies wanting control of agriculture on a global scale. Warmonger kissinger stated that he who controls the food controls the world. This is what happens when corporations and statesmen do not even know the soil.

[grn1]

That would be true if you are talking about senior!

[halimcan42]

thanks...

www.halimdiktas.tr.gg

[BigHeadTodd]

Why must it be foods we like, such as tomatoes, lettuce, peanuts and pistachios? Why can't it be things like succotash and fruit cake that nobody buys....or at least nobody buys and actually eats? :-)

[liminal67]

This is ...nuts...there's new food scare every month.. time to smell the coffee....

http://pitchbendpost.blogspot.com/

[vippy]

Don't our politicians eat - where do they get their groceries. Why are they poisoning us?

[arvay]

Great news, because it signals an FDA that's reversing the Bush corruption and actually protecting us from slipshod practices.

[Shabs42]

It also shows that Kraft is taking their food testing seriously. Not sure who dropped the ball at the pistachio plant, but at least it wasn't as blatantly criminal as the peanut plant a couple months back.

[breakingpoint]

no wonder they were so cheap at my local mega food chain store this week

[wadenelson1]

Same here. I bought a pound for $2.99 and still can't figure out if they're safe to eat or not.

[Xylem44]

This is getting to be like food Russian roulette. What next?

[grn1]

House H.R. 875

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-875

Senate S 425

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-425
Nearly forty years ago the scientific community warned of these types of epidemics and stated that mutations from genetic engineering were the biggest fear, E.coli and other bacterial hosts and viral promoters causing pathological epidemic.

[Anda]

SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL US, ARE THESE GME NUTS.
DOES MONSANTO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH.

NEWS MEDIA WHERE ARE YOU?