Nine states in the U.S. are now included in an ongoing multi-state investigation of a salmonella outbreak that infected 11 people from December last year to February. Pistachio snack packs are pointed to as the main culprit for the outbreak.
If you are a pistachio lover, you have to refrain from eating pistachios distributed by Wonderful, Paramount Farms and Trader Joe's with a lot code 1510123305901 found at the bottom of the package. Pistachio products with this code have now also been recalled.
Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Virginia and Washington were said to be hot spots of the salmonella outbreak.
According to the official announcement of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 89 percent of the patients who got ill between Dec. 12, 2015 and Feb. 9, 2016, had eaten pistachios a week before they experienced the symptoms of the salmonella virus.
Five out of eight, or 63 percent, of the respondents said they had eaten Wonderful brand pistachios.
Laboratory tests have been conducted on fresh pistachios taken from Paramount Farms, the planting area of Wonderful pistachios, for possible presence of Salmonella Montevideo.
Initial findings declared that the whole genome sequencing (WGS) found from the raw products taken in Paramount Farms are closely related to the WGS found on the DNA fingerprint of the Salmonella Montevideo among ill patients.
The CDC, who is in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), local health partners and PulseNet, assured the public to give updates about the outbreak.
Meanwhile, The Wonderful Company has released a statement assuring consumers of its active participation on the issue.
"Wonderful Pistachios takes food safety matters very seriously and is working closely with health officials to identify the source of the problem. In an effort to further enhance our food safety program and ensure the health and well being of our consumers, we have, effective immediately, proactively increased our sampling frequencies and lot size testing. The implementation of these augmented safety protocols further exceeds established industry best practices and bolsters our long-standing commitment to producing the highest quality, most wholesome and safest pistachios in the world," the statement said.
