THE CANADIAN SIDE OF THE HAZELNUT RECALL

The recent DeFranco & Sons (of LA, California) recall of E.coli 0157:H7 contaminated hazelnuts (also known as "filberts") involves Canada as well as the United States (and, for all we know at present, may also spread to other countries).

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has issued an alert to Canadian consumers, noting:

"If you have purchased bulk or unlabelled, in-shell hazelnuts or in-shell mixed nuts containing hazelnuts after Nov. 16, 2010, and are unsure if you have the recalled product, check with your place of purchase to determine if you have the affected product."

The affected nuts are known to have been distributed in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario, but, as the CFIA said, they could also have been distributed elsewhere in Canada (because some of the big bulk bags of hazelnuts have probably been re-packaged into smaller ones by other distributors and shipped elsewhere - see earlier blog).

So far, two Canadians have fallen ill with a strain of E. coli 0157:H7 that matches the genetic fingerprint of the strain responsible for the hazelnut-linked illnesses in the United States.

For a list of recalled products - also relevant to Canada - see earlier post. And the warning I gave earlier also applies in Canada: some of these hazelnut could have been used as ingredients in finished foods (such as chocolates, baked goods and so on), so avoid such foods for the time being until we see where this recall ends.

TSF

DETAILS ON THE DeFRANCO & SONS HAZELNUT RECALL

Here are the details on the DeFranco & Sons hazelnut recall (see previous post). Apparently they received the nuts from various suppliers and growers. This is one of those "Ah-ha, I told you so" moments. The Safe Food Handbook not only has a whole chapter on nuts, but stresses throughout that one of the reasons our industrialized food system is risky is because it mixes products from a range of growers and suppliers. Case in point. It is going to take a while before we trace the bad nuts back to their grower.

Some of the DeFranco products were hazelnuts alone, some contained hazelnuts mixed with other nuts. The 50-pound bags of in-shell hazelnuts or mixed nuts with in-shell hazelnuts were probably repacked by other companies into smaller packages with different labels or sold from bulk containers to us. (Read - any kind of hazelnuts could be contaminated).

The affected products listed below were distributed between Nov. 2, 2010 and Dec. 22, 2010, so we could have been eating them for months.

Brand Size Product Sell by Date UPC
Sunripe 1 lb Large Hazelnuts 6/30/11 070533 000167

Sunripe 1 lb Mixed Nuts 6/30/11 070533 000143
Sunripe 2 lbs Mixed Nuts 6/30/11 070533 001003

None
Sold as “Season’s
Greetings” Gift
Pack) 4 lbs Mixed Nuts 6/30/11 070533 101024
Sunripe 50 lbs Imperial Mixed Nuts -- --
Sunripe 50 lbs Supreme Mixed Nuts -- --
George Packing 50 lbs Hazelnuts -- --


Take them back or toss them out!

TSF

E.COLI CONTAMINATED HAZELNUTS

E.coli 0157:H 7 contaminated hazelnuts (and, I bet, a growing list of hazelnut-containing processed foods). Yes, you read correctly.

DeFranco & Sons of Los Angeles, California, is recalling in-shell hazelnuts and mixed-nut products in bulk and bags. They were distributed nationwide in the US and to Canada. (I wonder where they were grown? California or imported? I'll find out and let you know). These nuts have already been linked to seven cases of E.coli 0157:H7 illness in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. There will be more.

E.coli 0157 contamination of nuts is very uncommon. Usually it's Salmonella bacteria (as it was in the case of past peanut and pistachio outbreaks we had). And, we all know by now that this nasty bacteria can cause very serious illness, especially in young children and the elderly who could develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) just as they think they are getting over the diarrhea.

If you have eaten hazelnuts recently, or, any product containing hazelnuts (such as peanut butter, chocolates, baked goods, ice creams) watch out for symptoms of bloody diarrhea, in case you were unlucky. Onset of symptoms is usually 3-4 days (but can be 2-8) after eating the nuts. Get yourself (or your child) to a doctor if that happens.

And my advice - avoid any brand hazelnuts or hazelnut containing product for the moment, until we find out where this outbreak ends up.

TSF

ANOTHER BAD NUT

I suppose it was simply a matter of time before we had another nut-related outbreak.

Remember the peanut-linked one last year that seemed to go on for ever, then followed by a smaller one associated with pistachios? Well, the holiday season brought with it an outbreak in hazelnuts. True, hazelnuts are nowhere near as popular in the US as they are in Europe, but a lot of us do tend to eat them at least this time of the year. Otherwise, we just love them in chocolates and certain other baked goods.

Anyway, another outbreak of salmonella contamination in nuts was not what we wanted. The first recalls came out about mid December. It was only associated with hazelnuts that had been shelled (not those in shells), both organic and non-organic, and seems to have started at a large company that shells the nuts and then supplies other companies and retailers. My guess - another case of contaminated equipment.

And don't think this was just some small incident. In the end some of the higher-end retailers such as Whole Foods, and Harry and David, as well as several others, had to conduct product recalls at their busiest and most lucrative time of year.

Which reminds me, I ordered several Harry and David products to be sent to people such as my doctor and her staff. I hope they didn't contain hazelnuts. I had better check the FDA -Harry and David product recall list. How does one notify one's doctor that you may have sent her contaminated goodies as a thank you gift?

Bon appetit!

TSF