The Wonderful Company, LLC received a warning letter from the FDA on October 7.
Earlier this year, the company told the FDA it would study the optimal level of chlorine in a processing tank and install a system to remove foreign material before moving the pistachios to storage.
“However, you did not provide us with documentation demonstrating the effectiveness of these changes and any other changes you have made to prevent a reoccurrence of an outbreak,” FDA wrote.
FDA inspections in March and April found evidence that Wonderful-brand pistachios were contaminated with Salmonella and may have caused an outbreak of food poisoning.
The outbreak infected 11 people in 9 states with two strains of Salmonella. Wonderful Pistachios were the “likely source” of the outbreak, according to the CDC.
The outbreak strains of Salmonella were found in samples of raw pistachios from Paramount Farms, where Wonderful-brand pistachios are grown. Highly-similar strains were found in people who got sick in the outbreak.
On March 9, Wonderful Pistachios recalled a limited number of in-shell and shelled pistachios sold under brand-names including Wonderful, Paramount Farms, and Trader Joe’s.
Source: Law360
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