• Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, April 1, 2009 10:45 AM

Reacting to the Food and Drug Administration's warning to consumers not to eat the pistachios because they could be tainted with salmonella, supermarkets pulled products containing the nut from their shelves Tuesday, Jerry Hirsch reports.

Earlier this week, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., a bulk provider of nuts to food manufacturers and wholesalers, recalled two million pounds of nuts because of potential salmonella contamination. The company's nuts tested positive during routine checks at a plant operated by Kraft Foods and other food manufacturers. The FDA says some consumers have reported being sickened by pistachios but it so far has been unable to confirm any cases of illness linked to salmonella-tainted pistachios.

"The FDA is painting with a pretty broad brush," says Richard Matoian, executive director of the Western Pistachio Association. "The reality is that only one processor is affected by the voluntary recall, and it involves only a small portion of that company's inventory."

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