Oregon Investigation Led to Paramount Almond Recall

Disease detective Melissa Plantenga picked up the phone earlier this month and started calling five Oregon residents who had been stricken with salmonella poisoning. Armed with a 400-question survey, her job was to find the source of the food-borne illness.

By the third call, Plantenga, who tracks food-borne diseases for the Oregon Department of Human Services, knew something weird was afoot. Each time she asked them whether they’d eaten “almonds in the shell,” as her questionnaire instructed, the person on the other end of the line would answer, “No, only shelled raw almonds.” And in each instance, the respondent said they bought their nuts at a Costco Wholesale Corp. store.

Plantenga had detected a pattern that would force Los Angeles-based Paramount Farms Inc., the nation’s largest almond grower, to recall 13 million pounds of almonds over the last week, equivalent to about a quarter of its annual production.

Paramount spokesman Chris Tuffli said Monday that the privately held company was cooperating with state and federal officials to discover the exact source of the salmonella outbreak. He said the decision to pull its almonds out of circulation was an aggressive step to protect consumers.

The recall -- the largest ever of California almonds -- has roiled the state’s $1.2-billion industry.

“There’s no question that this could be a major comedown for us,” said Glenn Anderson, who has a small, organic almond farm south of Modesto. “And it’s a real shame because it comes at a time when we are seeing increasing supply, increasing demand and higher prices.”

California farmers supply about 80% of the world’s almonds, up from 60% a decade ago, growth fueled in part by opening up new markets, such as India and Eastern Europe.

“I just hope this situation doesn’t derail the positive momentum the industry is enjoying,” said Doug Youngdahl, chief executive of Sacramento-based Blue Diamond Growers, the world’s largest almond cooperative.

California produces more than 1 billion pounds of almonds annually on about 550,000 acres, making the nut the state’s sixth-largest crop. Almonds also represent the state’s top agricultural export, with about $829 million worth sent overseas annually.

The health of California’s farm economy was the last thing on the Oregon medical sleuth’s mind as she continued her interviews.

“After the fourth call I did a literature search,” Plantenga said. She discovered that California almonds were responsible for a salmonella outbreak in Canada three years ago.

Salmonella can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, the infection can cause more severe illnesses, particularly in infants and the elderly.

The bacteria infect raw food and can be transmitted when food is handled by someone with unclean hands. Thorough cooking kills salmonella.

Now working from home, Plantenga finished her last interview about 7 p.m. That person, too, had consumed raw almonds bought at Costco. Her next call was to the epidemiologists in her department. After conferring, the public health officials decided to alert other states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, even though it was after midnight on the East Coast.

Costco’s ability to use membership numbers to track every purchase helped confirm Plantenga’s deduction: The five Oregonians became sick after eating shelled raw almonds purchased at the giant retailer.

After learning of the recall, Costco sent more than 1 million letters to customers who purchased the almonds asking them to return any remaining nuts, a Costco spokesman said.

Using Costco’s data, investigators traced the nuts back to Paramount Farms.

By May 14, officials were searching for signs of salmonella at Paramount’s almond orchards and processing facilities in Lost Hills.

“It took the weekend to sort through the records,” said Jack Guzewich, an official at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Although health officials failed to find salmonella at Paramount’s orchards, the FDA believed there was enough evidence to narrow the problem to the company.

Last Tuesday, the FDA presented its case to Paramount executives, Guzewich said. After a full day of talks involving company officials, their attorneys and publicists, Paramount decided to launch a voluntary recall, he said.

The company moved ahead even though not a single test had turned up a tainted almond or source of contamination at any of its facilities. Although health officials have traced the outbreak to Paramount, they are still searching for the exact cause. Paramount buys almonds from other growers, and those nuts could have been the source of the salmonella, officials said.

Even tests on leftovers from a bag of nuts at the home of one of the Oregon victims failed to turn up evidence of salmonella.

Initially, Paramount recalled 5 million pounds of raw almonds. Much of the lot was sold through Costco and stamped with a “best before” date from 8/21/04 through 2/8/05. The rest had gone to grocery store operator Trader Joe’s and food marketer Sunkist. Those packages bear the “best before” dates of 8/21/04 through 3/15/05.

Over the weekend, Paramount expanded the recall by 8 million pounds to include all of its raw almonds with a “best before” date of 8/21/04.

All told, health officials say at least 20 people in as many as 10 states -- including California -- have recently become ill from tainted raw almonds.

How much of the product is out there is also largely an unknown. Health officials expect just a fraction will be recovered and inspected.

The percentage of raw almonds in the hands of consumers is fairly small. The industry estimates that at least 95% of the almonds eaten in the U.S. undergo processing such as blanching, roasting or baking that eliminates potential bacteria like Salmonella and other germs.

Despite the outbreak, salmonella in almonds is extremely rare, experts say.

Nonetheless, last week Paramount Farms started to sterilize all its raw almonds with propylene oxide gas. The company said it was too soon to know exactly how much the recall and its aftermath would cost.

Youngdahl of Blue Diamond said that some method of pasteurization or sterilization should become the industry standard for raw nuts.

It is a prudent move, he said, considering that the nuts are harvested by shaking the tree until they fall to the ground, where there can be microbes and other germs.

“No one wants to sell a product that makes the customer sick,” Youngdahl said.