Pistachios - Salmonella Update

Reposted, verbatim, from a announcement made by the National Confectioners Association:

Earlier this week, Setton Pistachio announced that it is expanding its recall to include all lots of roasted in-shell pistachios, roasted shelled pistachios, and raw shelled pistachios from the 2008 crop (unless they are subsequently roasted prior to retail sale). Here is a link to the press release of the expanded recall: http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/setton204_09.html

This comes in response to FDA finding Salmonella bacteria in "critical areas" of the Setton plant in California, as well as practices that could have resulted in cross-contamination between raw and roasted product.

FDA is advising industry not to sell or serve any pistachios or pistachio-containing products until they can determine their source. If the source is Setton, the products are subject to the recall.

If a confectioner can confirm that its pistachios were not supplied by Setton, it may wish to request listing on www.pistachiorecall.org. This website, sponsored by CAL-PURE and the Western Pistachio Association, lists firms that informed the sponsors that their products do not contain pistachios from Setton. FDA has a link to this website on its own website, but FDA states that it has not verified the information on the website. FDA's webpage on the recall can be found at: http://www.fda.gov/pistachios/.

While FDA initially advised consumers to avoid pistachio products altogether, the agency is now advising the public not to eat pistachio products unless they can determine that products do not contain nuts from Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc.