Helpful Pistachio Recall Information
If you’re like me with pistachios in your freezer or cupboard, you’re anxious about whether you should use them or toss them, given the recent recall over salmonella contamination.
Two Web sites can help.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has teamed up with California pistachio growers to create PistachioRecall.org. This site lists specific pistachio products and brands not affected by the recall, and can safely be consumed.
For a list of pistachio products that have been recalled, go to the FDA site.
Pistachio products by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Calif. are under investigation for salmonella contamination. The company has stopped all distribution of the processed nuts and is voluntarily recalling about 1 million pounds of its products.
Salmonella is especially dangerous to young children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.
Thanks for the update. I think this is one of the few nuts I don’t have on hand at the moment. Which is probably a good thing since I mostly buy nuts in bulk.
Thank you for the links. I have some pistachios in my home, and I will have to make sure that they weren’t affected by the recall.
Thanks for the comprehensive links. I am devastated because I have no idea where I got most of mine. I buy at farmer’s markets and in airports and then package into small travel bags. All I have left are the snack bags. I guess I better be safe than sorry since they are all from California and all harvested in 2008.
Although if I haven’t gotten sick yet off them…. thoughts?
One bit of good news is that the pistachios at Costco are all OK.
In particular, the Sunkist Shelled Pistachios are a godsend for cooks — see: http://feedme.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/01/pistachios-an-easy-gourmet-ingredient.html for details. They’re a favorite always-in-the-cupboard trick.
Also bought (but have not tried) their salt and pepper pistachios.
CG the Foodie: Hmm, that’s a dilemma. If you haven’t gotten sick off them, you might have perfectly fine pistachios. But then, since they’re all mixed in together, you might have just gotten lucky with what you’ve eaten so far. I guess you could just gamble that they’re OK, especially if you don’t fall into one of those three higher-risk categories (young child, elderly, compromised immune system), where salmonella would really take a toll on you.
‘Course, I also have a human guinea pig for situations like this — my husband, Meat Boy. When he saw a bag of pistachios in our freezer, he said in all seriousness, “You want me to eat one to see if I get sick? I’ll eat one if you want me to!” It must be a guy thing. 😉
Anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks for the info. It’s pretty frightening really. Fortunately I don’t have any at the moment, they’re all gone eaten by me (my favorite nut). Thank goodness nothing happen.
Cheers,
elra
LOL on having a human guinea pig. I ran the idea by the boyfriend and he just said he would rather buy me new pistachios. I guess that is one way to replace them? 🙂
Thanks for sharing the good information. It begs the question, first peanuts, then pistachios, what’s next? What is it about the processing that we are now having these issues?
Foodgal, your meatboy story cracks me up! I have been lucky with both the raw tomato scare last year and pistachio recall because they were all from my local CSA who sent notices out with the box where our nuts were from (and the farm is on the list of OK to eat). I love that my farm is so responsible and accountable to the subscribers.
Before this pistachio problem became headline news and most people didn’t know about it yet, I received a call to my cell while at work…from Costco! A courtesy call saying, “Absolutely do NOT eat the trail mix you bought between December and March.” I hung up from the call, and then remembered sitting at home just two days before, munching on this very trail mix while watching Zach and Miri Make a Porno. So here I am at work, supposed to be graphing some data on Excel, and instead, I think I’m going to die. For the record, I’m totally fine now. But for a moment at work, when I thought I might bite the dust, I told my coworker he could have my lava lamp off my desk if I don’t make it till tomorrow. 🙂
Marni: Big chuckle! Didn’t we have a similar conversation on Twitter when you thought you were going to die after accidentally eating a moldy, over-ripe fig? Glad you lived to tell me about almost succumbing to trail mix. 😉
And I have to say, I’m quite impressed about the courtesy call from Costco. Man, they’re going to start rivaling Nordstrom’s in the customer service department.