The pistachio recall in the United States continues to evolve, but it turns out that not all products are affected. Here is recent information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other sources.

First things first. If you have pistachios or foods that contain pistachios in your house, do not eat them without contacting the retailer where you bought them to see if they are part of the recall or not. But as you read below, you’ll see that not all pistachio products are part of the recall—there are plenty of sources of these delicious nuts that are safe to eat.

Okay, let’s start with the current official word from the FDA’s website: “The FDA and the California Department of Public Health continue to investigate Salmonella contamination in pistachios and pistachio products. Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., Terra Bella, Calif., is voluntarily expanding its recall of roasted pistachios to include all lots of roasted in-shell pistachios and roasted shelled pistachios that were produced from nuts harvested in 2008. The firm is also recalling those raw shelled pistachios from the 2008 crop that are not subsequently roasted prior to retail sale. The pistachios may be contaminated with Salmonella.”

Salmonella is nothing to mess around with. It can cause a moderate illness with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches, and may even come back a few weeks later as arthritis. In young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems, it can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections.

That said, while the FDA initially warned consumers to not eat any pistachio products, they’ve now modified this warning on their site: “FDA is advising consumers not to eat pistachios or food products containing them [such as pistachio bakery goods and pistachio ice cream] unless they can determine that the products do not contain pistachios from Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc.“

So where do you find non-Setton pistachios? Continue reading “Pistachio recall: Recent updates” →