ANOTHER PINE NUTS RECALL

No wonder our food is so expensive - and getting more so. Under an industrialized food system, food products often get re-distributed, re-packaged and re-labelled. Everyone has to take a cut. And, what's more, every step increases safety risks and makes food recalls slower and more complicated.

Take the case of pine nuts. Sunrise Commodities of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. imported some Salmonella bacteria-contaminated ones to the United States. All the news reports claim they were imported from Turkey, but I still suspect that, although they may have been grown in Turkey, they actually came from China, where they had been sent for processing (see my post of October 28).

Sunrise issued a recall several days ago. Now, it turns out that another food company, Badia Spices, Inc, located in Miami, Florida, is recalling almost 4,000 lbs. of Pinenuts which they apparently got from Sunrise and repackaged.

Baida Spices sold their pine nuts in retail stores in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey - between June 2011 and October 2011. Hmm..In other words, probably all have been eaten. And they are just now issueing a recall - about two weeks after Sunrise issued theirs. In the meantime, we have been eating these delightful pine nuts and getting Salmonellosis.

Don't eat:

1 oz Pine nuts in small plastic bags Lot # 84666

2 oz Pine nuts in pet bottles Lot # 83184, 85442

Maybe we should skip the pine nuts altogether for a while..

To your good health,

TSF

SALMONELLA IN NUTS AND SPICES

Yes, it's true: bacteria, like most living organisms, prefer to grow where's there some moisture. But some, like the well-known Salmonella, manages to survive for months in very dry situations, including in dry foods. That's why it crops up fairly often in unexpected places such as nuts and spices.

For instance, presently in the U.S. there is a recall of 5,000 pounds of imported Turkish Pine Nuts because Salmonella Enteritidis bacteria have been found in them. Sad news for us pine nut lovers. Nor is this the first time that Salmonella has turned up in pine nuts, as well as in other nuts.

The recall is being made by Wegmans Food Markets. They were sold in the Bulk Foods department of most of Wegmans 79 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland between July 1 and October 18, 2011. So far there have been at least 42 confirmed illnesses due to eating these nuts. Most of the cases have been in New York State.

Wegman's got their nuts from Sunrise Commodities of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., which imported them. One would assume they came from Turkey, but I am going to check this further as their web site only lists China and Spain as sources for their pine nuts (Chinese Turkish pine nuts? ).

Unfortunately, this is a particularly vicious strain of Salmonella . Symptoms usually occur 12-72 hours after eating a heavily contaminated food. Most people would just get the usual diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. But in the case of an unlucky few, the bacteria can end up in the bloodstream and lead to more serious and long-lasting illnesses such as arthritis, arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms) and endocarditis.

Avoid it! You may also want to avoid prepared foods that contain pine nuts for a while. Wegman's also used the nuts in some of theirs (e.g. Caprese salads), and the supplier may also have sold them to others.

To your good health,
TSF