nosh nook #15 - friday, april 3, 2009

say no to pistachios: recall widens, includes frito-lay (link)
04.02.09 - st. petersburg times - via the a.p.

roaches, feces found at l.i. plant tied to salmonella (link)
04.02.09 - newsday - by delthia ricks

dean foods not impacted by pistachio scare (link)
04.02.09 - dallas business journal

let the non-stupid jam band widespread panic begin! now that we've got that peanut thing out of the way, it's time to move on to something else nutty that we can all come together as a nation to freak out over...pistachios! yep, that's right. your favorite nut that doesn't require much effort to get the shell open is just like michael jackson. d-a-n-g-dangerous. apparently they can both also carry salmonella & in many cases, need to be recalled. luckily, nobody will put michael jackson in their mouth.

the a.p. lays out the facts about the pistachio recall. a bunch of companies have already started. dallas/plano-based frito lay has pulled its 1.75 oz packages. the second biggest pistachio producer in the country, setton farms, has recalled its entire crop. even whole foods is recalling some & they're all healthy & godly and stuff, which makes me think things might be bad for the pistachio.

oh! another thing that is bad for the pistachio? having rodent feces & cockroaches in the plant where you process said nuts. as newsday reports, a setton foods plant here in new york (strong island represent!) was found to have both of those present, although, to be fair, there were only two cockroaches & various rodent droppings, which, in all likelihood, came from a single, poopy mouse...must have been all them pistachios!

luckily, dean foods is ok. thank you dallas business journal & whomever the p.r. person is for dean foods...i can sleep easy tonight. sure frito-lay is in the same greater metropolitan area, but you too can rest assured knowing that the salmonella did not run down from plano to the dean foods plant. if you enjoy dean foods' pistachios, enjoy away!  it's the weekend, people!