Stay Informed About The Pistachio Salmonella Apocalypse
There have been quite a few "salmonella pistachio" recalls in the past few days, so the FDA has set up pistachio HQ on their website. You can search and/or browse the Pistachio Recalled Products List, learn about salmonella, and generally freak out about contaminated pistachios.
Meanwhile, the AP is reporting that the FDA is looking into a sister company of the California nut processor currently under investigation because cockroaches and rodent droppings were found in the facility. The plant failed its health inspection.
The AP also notes that the only reason the contamination was found was because Kraft voluntarily tested the nuts for salmonella. Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor state laws require food manufacturers to test the safety of their products.
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Comments:
I didn't know Target made pistachios.
I have a bag of setton farms pistachios in my cupboard that I have been having debating with myself if I should eat it, or check to see if it was recalled.
They need to beam the latest information about this to those electronic road signs like they do with Amber Alerts.
I'm glad that the processing plants are looking out for their bottom line instead of the health of their customers.
PS I miss Publix.
salmonella pistachio would make a great name for a rock band. Or maybe a stripper.
@crashedpc: I ate two jars of Peter Pan peanut butter which was recalled two years ago, which I found out about here AFTER I ate them, of course, and made it through ok.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: Is that patio completely enclosed? Because you may not be the only mammal putting things on those plants.
Nice to see Trader Joe's pistachios are both yummy and safe!
I was in hell when I went grocery shopping the other day and saw an aisle full of pistachios that I would love to have eaten my way through. Ugh.
I snapped some cell phone photos of not one but TWO giant sections of different brands of pistachios at my local grocery store yesterday. It was confusing!
@CargoHoldNap_GitEmSteveDave: By saying you came out ok, I assume you mean you didn't eat the two jars of peanut butter in one sitting.
My client's pistachio inventory was inspected yesterday by the feds at their NC warehouse, and it passed with flying colors.
The feds loved my client's nuts.
Great . . . I've got a 1/2 eaten container of Planter's Digestive Health Mix sitting right here in my cupboard. I checked the codes and it's been recalled.
What do we do? Throw it our or take it back to the grocery store for a refund?
I wonder if you can heat the pistachios in the oven or something to kill off the salmonellas. You'll still be eating bird or rat droppings, but at least it will be sterile, clean and dry.
Corporate self-regulation is at work here again.
Write your Congresspeople. Ask them to make the USDA and FDA do their damned jobs.
My dad used to grow pistachios near Barstow, and I believe he sold to Setton Farms. Not sure though. He sold the farm a couple of years ago. I helped him out there now and then, and I know he was conscientious about what HE put on, but controlling things like rabbits was always a nightmare.
Lucky for me, I don't like pistachios. Booya.
Just leave the cashews alone!
I would keep it as evidence in case i got sick. Though if it's been a few says sence you ate any you should be ok.
:( I was just thinking of buying pistachios and making ice cream with them. *sigh*
@Nicole Glynn: IANAD/Food Safety Person, but if you can get the middle of the nut to 75 degrees centigrade (167 degrees Fahrenheit) and keep it there for 10 minutes, you should be fine.
Of course, your nuts would probably be cinders by then, since you'd need to have the oven at 300+ for quite a while to achieve it... far past golden brown and delicious, methinks.
Plus, there's no reliable way to make sure the insides of the nut are at the right temperature. I'd say it's best to just give them up as lost.
@AlexDitto: 170 degrees is not difficult at all. You could do it by putting the nuts on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in a 200 deg oven (below boiling temp) for 1/2 hour. It doesn't take long to heat something as small as a nut, and they won't burn at 200 degrees; they will probably just be refreshed.
Yesterday I heated a 10-lb sausage and cheese lasagna to 190 degrees in 45 minutes at 375. After all, you can cook eggs to 170 degrees to kill salmonellas in them, so you should be able to heat nuts to render them safe. People, we can either cower in fear, or we can take simple measures to protect ourselves. I say enjoy your newly cheap pistachios so long as you re-bake them first.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: If you miss that just-bought-from-Wal-Mart taste, simply drink a Coors tall boy and wait on your patio for about forty minutes!
If they know that cockroaches were one of the sources of contamination, shouldn't they be worried about listeria in addition to salmonella? Poor listeria - always overshadowed. But it's serious, too!
This sort of makes me glad that I planted lots of plants on my patio... pity they won't be ready for another 60-70 days.
This just makes me want to plant *more* though.. at least I know what I'm putting on those plants!