It’s been a tough two weeks for the California pistachio industry. A voluntary recall of pistachio products from one plant in Tulare County – Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella – due to suspected salmonella contamination led to an FDA advisement to consumers not to eat any pistachios at all.
Erring on the side of caution, the FDA warning shut down sales of the California-grown nut in supermarkets and health food stores across the US – no doubt not wanting to be charged later with lax enforcement of food safety.
Having been faced with eight recalls of nut products in recent years, including the deadly salmonella variety found recently in plants owned by Peanut Corporation of America, the FDA’s quick action may be understandable.
But for the pistachio industry as a whole – represented by the Western Pistachio Association – “The lessons learned are still evolving,” says the association that represents 400 growers’ Executive Director Richard Matoian of Fresno.
“FDA sent an industry guidance that directed growers and processors to keep raw and roasted products separate at all times.” FDA repeated the advice in conference calls in recent days, he says.
FDA said it found salmonella “in critical areas” of the Terra Bella plant with news reports suggesting that “Setton employees often used the same transport bins, conveyors and packing machines for both raw and roasted pistachios, potentially contaminating the roasted nuts,” said an April 7 New York Times article.
“That’s what we understand to have been the problem but we don’t know for sure. We asked the FDA and they still haven’t told us,” says Matoian.
Major Changes?
Setton said in a news release few days ago that it is “making major changes in its processing facility” to ensure the highest standards based on FDA and California Department of Health recommendations. A Setton spokesperson would not comment further.
But the advice – don’t mix up these nuts – would match what the FDA advisory said to keep both product and processing machinery separate along with carrying out constant sampling and testing.
Matoian says the co-use of equipment to handle raw and roasted nuts varies by plant although this practice will be coming to a screaming halt now.
“This is the first time we have experienced any salmonella problem in pistachios,” says Matoian, adding that the industry practices the placement of raw nuts in a chlorine bath along with soaking them in hot water that ranges from 160 to 200 F.
In addition, raw pistachios never hit the ground when harvested, said Matoian. They are gathered from the tree shaking by a mechanical catcher and trucked to the plant. “Any nut that hits the ground is left there.”
Matoian says unlike the virulent strain of salmonella found in peanuts recently, this is a common variety of salmonella – the kind you can find in your refrigerator.”
Some Relief for Industry
In a sign of progress, by April 7 FDA allowed consumers to link to a new industry website that listed all the pistachio brands that were not being recalled – the first time the FDA has allowed this. The web site is under Cal-Pure Co-op. This lifts the blanket warning not to eat any pistachios, although this has got little press.
Setton is the number two processor in the U.S. behind Paramount (which also packs for Sunkist), but Matoian says there are some two dozen processors nationwide. “We’ve all felt this.”
The industry is a big one in the state with a farm-gate value of $540 million annually. Acreage has been growing fast in California with an estimated 40 percent of the trees young enough to have not begun production yet.
The western U.S. pistachio industry was buffeted this past year from falling prices seen with other nuts, including walnuts and almonds last September. That’s because Iran is a far bigger producer than the U.S. and a major freeze cut that nation’s production by 30 percent.
For the Setton company, the recall now of its entire 2008 crop is devastating and for its employees the shutdown means no paycheck. The company is said to have some sort of product liability insurance but the details are not known. “That’s what everybody is talking about,” says Matoian. Growers who sold that crop to the company have a major stake in that question.
Enforcement of the new regulations for the industry will be carried out by a different industry supported group that oversees the marketing order – the Administrative Committee for Pistachios.