Food Poisoning Law Blog : Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : PritzkerLaw : Food Safety, Outbreaks & Recalls

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to investigate what links there are between Salmonella found in contaminated pistachios and the same strain of Salmonella found in ill people whose cases are part of the CDC's collective food poisoning database known as PulseNet.

Recalls of pistachio foods that may be contaminated with the pathogen Salmonella Montevideo are continuing and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still making daily updates to its searchable database of affected products. 

The CDC, FDA and California Department of Public Health have spent months investigating Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., Terra Bella, California. A large customer of the company first alerted the government to positive Salmonella tests taken from batches of Setton pistachios. When health officials inspected Setton's facilities, they found Salmonella in critical areas of the facility and the potential for cross-contamination between roasted product and raw product.

No outbreak of illness related to the contamination has been confirmed, but the latest FDA report on the investigation shows some areas of interest. Quoting directly from the report:

Some of the DNA fingerprints of the Salmonella strains from the pistachio products match the DNA fingerprints of Salmonella strains from recently ill persons already in the PulseNet database. This particular strain of Salmonella also has been isolated from a stool sample in a child who developed gastroenteritis and who is reported to have consumed pistachios that were sourced from Setton Pistachio. In addition, this specific Salmonella fingerprint matches a number of other clinical isolates in the PulseNet data base. However, it is important to recognize that when a patient’s isolate has a relatively common DNA fingerprint pattern (such as this one) that matches that of a food isolate, it does not necessarily follow that the patient’s illness was related to that food. CDC is investigating whether the other cases infected with this strain of Salmonella have had exposure to pistachios from Setton Pistachio.

National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is involved in virtually all major outbreaks of foodborne illness. The firm currently is representing Salmonella victims around the country, including the families of three women who died with Salmonella infections after consuming contaminated peanut products.

If you or someone you know has become seriously ill from food poisoning, please call the law firm at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or get a free case consultation. 

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It's been hard to keep up with all the food product recalls related to Salmonella-tainted pistachios grown and roasted in California.

The sweeping domino affect of one large distributor (Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc.) selling more than 1 million pounds of adulterated pistachios to re-baggers and other food companies has now tumbled onto Girl Scouts of the USA. Of all the companies that purchased the wholesale pistachios, only one of them did microbiological testing that found the problem and reported it. And it wasn't the Girl Scouts.

Ashdon Farms of Waukesha, Wisconsin, has recalled certain code dates of 7.5 ounce Girl Scouts Pistachios packed in pop top cans. The company's recall notice said no illnesses have been reported in connection with the potentially contaminated nuts.

The pistachios were sold for fund-raising purposes by Girl Scout Councils in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. Almost all of the cans were sold between October and early December 2008.

The complete list of all pistachio product recalls is being kept by the Food and Drug Administration.

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State and federal food safety inspectors found Salmonella organisms in "critical areas'' of productions facilities at Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced.

The inspectors also found the potential of cross-contamination of raw and roasted products, the FDA said in a press release.

Setton responded by expanding its recall alert to consumers. Initially, the California grower, aggregator and roaster of pistachios had announced pistachio recalls by lots. Now the company is recalling all roasted, shelled pistachios and all roasted in-shell pistachios from its 2008 crop year -- a harvest of more than 1 million pounds.

Setton's raw in-shell pistachios were not included in the latest recall, which the company said was "due to potential contamination with the Salmonella organism.''

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly and other people with weakened immune systems. For example, in the unrelated peanut butter Salmonella outbreak, nine people have died and more than 700 have been sickened since September.

National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is representing victims of Salmonella around the country, including the families of three women who died in the peanut-related outbreak.. The firm is experienced and highly regarded for obtaining compensation for victims of food poisoning. In addition, the firm is devoted to educating the public about food safety issues and advocating for badly needed food safety legislation and increased funding for the federal, state and local agencies charged with protecting our food and enforcing food safety laws. To contact a Salmonella lawyer at PritzkerOlsen, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free online case consultation form.

Setton's 2008 crop was distributed around the country, mostly in commercial quantities of up to 1 ton in size. Customers re-bagged the nuts or used them to make other food products. The FDA is instructing Setton's customers to issue recalls on any affected products. So far, nearly 200 products have been recalled and many more announcements will result from the expanded recall, the FDA said. Entries are being tracked in a searchable FDA database.

The complete, expanded recall by Setton also applies to retail-sized packages ranging from five-pound "craft bags" of "Setton Farms" roasted and salted pistachios to 16-ounce bags of "Trader  Joe" Chili Lemon pistachios.

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An affiliate of the California company at the center of a nationwide Salmonella recall of pistachio products issued a supplemental recall today covering 19 different pistachio products, including chocolate covered varieties.

At this stage of the investigation, national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is telling consumers to heed government advice not to eat any brand of shelled or unshelled pistachios, or any food products containing pistachios. There have been cases of illness that may be associated with contaminated pistachios and PritzkerOlsen currently is representing Salmonella victims from around the country in other outbreaks.

Setton International Foods Inc. of Commack, N.Y., announced the voluntary recall in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but the company said it was not related to recent state health inspection findings. 

Setton International Foods Inc. is an affiliate of California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc. The FDA is investigating Salmonella contamination in bulk, wholesale pistachios from the 2008 crop year roasted and distributed by Setton Pistachio.

All together, the FDA has estimated that 1 million pounds of pistachios from Setton are being recalled.

The New York affiliate of Setton said its recall was related to pistachios it had obtained from the California operation. "This voluntary recall is not in any way  related to any inspection conducted by New York State or the United States Food and Drug Administration,'' the company's recall notice said.

The Associated Press reported this week that the New York affiliate of Setton failed its state health inspection last month because authorities found cockroaches and rodent droppings in the plant. Company officials have said they have remedied the problems.

The 19 products involved in Friday's recall are listed in full on the FDA's web site. The list includes "Certified Delicious Dark Chocolate Pistachios'' under the Setton Farms brand.

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CONSUMER ALERT: FDA is advising consumers not to eat any brand of shelled or unshelled pistachios, or any food products containing pistachios, such as baked goods, trail mix, and other snack foods, until FDA determines which pistachios and pistachio products are affected by the recall being conducted by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. ("Setton"), also called Setton Farms. 

Fisher brand pistachios are among the latest products recalled as a result of Salmonella pistachio contamination found in bulk wholesale shipments from Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc. in California.

The number of entries in the searchable master list of pistachio product recalls has quickly grown to at least 65.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said again on Wednesday that several illnesses reported by consumers may be associated with contaminated California pistachios, but more testing is being conducted. Health investigators are trying  to determine if any of the strains of Salmonella found in Setton Pistachio nuts are linked to an outbreak.

Setton, a large roaster and distributor of California-grown pistachios, has halted production and is expected by the FDA to issue a voluntary recall involving 1 million pounds of product. The company that detected and blew the whistle on the contamination was Kraft Foods of Illinois, a large customer of Setton.

Kraft expanded its own related recall on Wednesday by announcing that all Planters brand and Back to Nature brand products containing pistachio nuts should not be consumed.

The Fisher recall, issued Wednesday by John B. Sanfilippo and Son Inc., applies to 1.75-ounce packages of dry roasted natural pistachios and 25-pound lots of natural California pistachios sold to fund-raisers, bulk food stores and re-baggers. Minnesota and Wisconsin were in the affected territory of the Fisher brand recall for the small packages and bulk items.

The FDA fully expects the list of recalled pistachio products to expand, much like has happened in the 7-month-old Salmonella outbreak related to peanut products sold by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).  That's because PCA and Setton sold largely to the wholesale market and their products were used as ingredients to make other food.

National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is representing victims of the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak, including the families of three women who died from their illnesses. The firm, which is involved on behalf of victims and survivors in virtually every major outbreak of foodborne illness, is gathering information on the potential pistachio Salmonella outbreak.

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By FRED PRITZKER

There’s another potential Salmonella outbreak associated with tons of nuts used in a wide variety of consumer products. Sound familiar?

Near the end of a prior Salmonella outbreak (involving peanuts processed by Peanut Corporation of America that sickened hundreds and killed nine), a California-based company, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., is recalling 1,000 tons of roasted pistachio nuts.

According to published reports, the voluntary recall was initiated after an inspection by one of the company’s large purchasers found evidence of several types of Salmonella in roasted pistachios during product testing at the pistachio plant.

The findings were reported to the Food and Drug Administration not by the nut producer, but rather by the customer that did the testing. According to the New York Times, the product purchaser “said its inspectors visited the California plant where the pistachios were processed, and found that the plant was not keeping its roasted pistachios separate from the incoming flow of raw nuts. Like other nuts, raw pistachios can carry pathogens that are killed in the roasting process.”

This raises a number of questions and points, yet again, that relate to the need for an immediate overhaul of the food safety systems in this country.

First, why did it take an outside inspection and testing to find evidence of several types of Salmonella? Why didn’t the company’s own testing identify the problem?

The recall involves tons of product produced over an extended period of time. This indicates a long standing and systemic failure that should have been readily identified long before this recall.
The third-party audit that detected the Salmonella outbreak identified a classic sanitation violation: failure to properly separate raw, disease-laden product from finished product.

No inspector or sanitarian should miss a process violation of this magnitude.

Where are the inspectors? Where is the testing? Where are the sanitation plans (HACCP, SSOPs, GMPs) that the public has a right to expect? How many more people have to die or get violently ill before we remove these “nuts” from the marketplace? 

Fred Pritzker is founder and president of national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A. He currently is representing victims of the nationwide peanut product Salmonella outbreak, including the families of three women who died with Salmonella infections. With 30 years of experience and a national reputation for excellence, Mr. Pritzker has appeared on CNN, CBS News, Fox News and been quoted by The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, regional newspapers and network television affiliates. His practice has been the subject of a feature story in Minnesota Lawyer and his firm has won numerous million- and multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements.To contact the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form. 

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CONSUMER ALERT: FDA is advising consumers not to eat any brand of shelled or unshelled pistachios, or any food products containing pistachios, such as baked goods, trail mix, and other snack foods, until FDA determines which pistachios and pistachio products are affected by the recall being conducted by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. ("Setton"), also called Setton Farms. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending that consumers avoid eathing pistachios and pistachio products until the agency knows more about a potentially widespread case of Salmonella contamination.

This is how the situation has developed.

• On Monday, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Calif., issued a large recall of bulk pistachios sold across the country at the wholesale level. Tests showed that the nuts contained multiple strains of Salmonella.
• This morning, the FDA issued a consumer warning against eating pistachios and pistachio products, saying that Setton Pistachio would be issuing an even larger recall of about 1 million pounds of the nuts.
• The FDA and the California Department of Public Health are investigating the company's facilities and conducting genetic testing on pistachios to see if Salmonella strains found in the nuts match illnesses reported by consumers.
• As of this morning, it was not known if the contamination has led to an outbreak but it is early in the investigation.
• The FDA warned consumers that many more recalls will be coming down the pike because food companies have used the potentially contaminated nuts in various products.
• In that regard, the pistachio alert is like the peanut product Salmonella outbreak that has lingered since September of last year. In that public health scare, more than 3,600 food products containing potentially contaminated peanuts sold at wholesale by Peanut Corporation of America have been recalled from the grocery market.
• The pistachio problem is not believed to be related to the adulteration of peanuts. The peanut-related outbreak has sickened more than 700 people and is believed to have led to nine deaths.

PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is representing victims in the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak, including the families of three women who died with Salmonella infections. The national food safety law firm is closely following the pistachio situation and is already prepared to accept cases of those who believe they have been injured.

Fred Pritzker, founder of the firm, has appeared on CNN and CBS News as a Salmonella expert and he has been quoted by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and regional newspapers about all outbreaks of foodborne illness.

If you or someone you know is in need of representation for a serious illness related to Salmonella and nuts, please call the firm (toll free) at 1-888-377-8900 or complete an electronic case consultation form. 

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CONSUMER ALERT: FDA is advising consumers not to eat any brand of shelled or unshelled pistachios, or any food products containing pistachios, such as baked goods, trail mix, and other snack foods, until FDA determines which pistachios and pistachio products are affected by the recall being conducted by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. ("Setton"), also called Setton Farms. 

An Illinois based candy and nut company has recalled a variety of products containing pistachios that could be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.

Georgia Nut Company said in a letter to customers that it detected the problem while sampling and testing pistachio nuts from a third-party supplier from California. Georgia Nut CEO Rick Drehobl said no illnesses are known to be related to the recall.

In conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration, Georgia Nut also said there is no relationship to the ongoing Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak caused by contaminated peanuts and peanut paste from Peanut Corporation of America.

Distribution of the potentially contaminated pistachio products from Georgia Nut was in Wauwatosa, Wisc., Greenfield, Wisc., and the greater Chicago area. The specifics of the recall are as follows:

• Bulk Deluxe Mixed Nuts with shelled pistachios purchased at the Not Just Nuts store in Wauwatosa, WI from Dec. 5, 2008 through March 24, 2009.
• Bulk or custom packaged Deluxe Mixed Nuts with shelled pistachios purchased at Georgia Nut retail stores in Skokie and Glenview, IL, Georgia Nut’s Chocolate House location in Greenfield, WI, and through the Company’s website from Dec 11, 2008 through March 23, 2009,
• Bulk or custom packaged Dry Roasted Shelled Pistachios purchased at Georgia Nut retail stores in Skokie and Glenview, IL, Georgia Nut’s Chocolate House location in Greenfield, WI, and through the Company’s website purchased from Dec 3, 2008 through March 23, 2009.
• Mixed Nuts Deluxe Roasted and Salted Bulk with shelled pistachios purchased from clear plastic bulk bins in the produce department at Dominick’s Finer Food stores in the greater Chicagoland area from Dec. 10, 2008 through March 25, 2009.

Some of the products also were sold online, the company said.

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