Tuesday, March 31, 2009

First peanuts, now pistachios, what next?


A California company is recalling 2 million pounds of pistachios distributed nationwide after testing found them to be contaminated with salmonella. The Food and Drug Administration is advising consumers to avoid eating all pistachios and foods containing them until it can confirm which pistachios might be affected.
USA Today ran an article yesterday on their on line edition, which warned consumers of products that have been processed since last September.

The FDA said Setton Pistachio, the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, was voluntarily recalling more than 2 million pounds of its roasted nuts shipped since last fall. Some of those nuts were shipped to Norway and Mexico, officials said Tuesday.

"We know that the farm in California shipped its products to 36 wholesalers," said Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety. "But what we don't know yet is what those wholesalers did with them — whether they were repackaged for consumers, or whether they were sold to manufacturers making ice cream or cookies or candies." (USA TODAY)

I wonder exactly how big the pile of 2 million lbs of pistachios would be?

Another food warning of tainted product possibilities.....

Great, just great!


I bought some pistachios at the Costco in Morelia, and even some at Wal Mart in Morelia and in Mazatlan.
Two million pounds is a lot of those tiny savory little habit forming orbs.

It seems or to me at least, that there have been more and more outbreaks of tainted food products in the last couple of years than in many years before.

Is that the case or is it that we just happen to hear about it now?

It is at a point that unless you produce the product yourself or know the source you will not be able to eat anything that is untainted or at least not suspect to some form of contamination.

One of the things mentioned in the article was that the salmonella is not dangerous unless you are an infant , old, or have a compromised immune system.

As a child growing up, I was fortunate to ingest all kinds of stuff that should have built up my immune system. Garden mud pies, unwashed fruit and vegetables from the garden, soda pop from bottles shared by 3 or 4 friends, scrapes and scratches from falling on broken glass, jagged rusty fence hardware , bites from neighborhood dogs and who know how many food items that were past their product dates ( when did product dates come into being?) and food left out in the open in my grandmother's kitchen.

I believe that we were better equipped for the life of hard knocks, unlike today's kids that are overprotected and turn out not tempered to nature and it's normal surroundings.

I think I have had less colds, flu symptoms and such since being exposed to the "fresh" products of Mexico, stuff like unrefrigerated chickens at the mercado to eggs that are held on top of the counter at the store down the road from our house.

Something to be said about natural selection and being exposed to spores, molds, fungus, and life.
Don't get me wrong, I won't go looking for someone to sneeze on me, but I don't want build up an immunity to antibiotics which is now a real issue.

But that's just me.......

5 comments:

Don Cuevas said...

Apart from this new, pistachio-borne threat to our health, what about that red dye that's on so many pistachios?

Time to switch to cashews, except those sold at Costco have risen so much in price... forget it. The mixed nuts from Costco are way too salty.

Besides being habit forming, these nuts are Fat-fat-FATTENING! Lots of salt, too.

Saludos y buen provecho,
Don Cuevas

Frankly Ronda said...

From a parent of young children - I totally agree. Husband and I do not understand the germ-a-phobes out there.

Bob Mrotek said...

You know Ken, the thing that I don't understand is why all of this is happening. I have been working in quality assurance for the last twenty years and a straightforward program to eliminate system errors through testing and documentation is not beyond reason nor reach through training and worker empowerment. Things should be getting better and not worse. Or perhaps they are getting better but we just don't realize it...but I don't think so.

Tancho said...

Fat, Fattening? Yep, but everything in moderation is ok, just the definition of what moderation is, is the key?

Mommy, sounds like your kids will be healthy and wise! Kids must live and experience stuff to make them smart in the older years....

Bob, I think that the problem is a lot of companies hire people that can fog a mirror, cheap labor or as I saw a lot of people without a lick of common sense, so maybe the people mix up the bags or turn the wrong valve , who knows? All I know is that I cannot understand stuff like that since we were taught of the importance of doing the job correct the first time. Unfortunately I am a dinosaur in that work ethic, sort of like doing an honest days work, etc....all foreign nowadays....

Don Cuevas said...

Yeah, yeah. And I used to have to walk 5 miles to school in hip deep snow, uphill both ways, in the scorching heat of summer.

(In reality, my primary school was 2 blocks from our apartment.)

Saludos,
Don Cuevas.