GEORGE M. MARTIN
NAVARRO PECAN COMPANY
2131 HWY 31 EAST
PO BOX 147
CORSICANA, TX 75110
PH: 800-333-9507 FAX: 903-874-7143
WEBSITE: WWW.NAVARROPECAN.COM
DANIEL J. ZEDAN
NATURE’S FINEST FOODS, LTD.
32W273 ARMY TRAIL ROAD
SUITE 200
PO BOX 17
WAYNE, IL 60184
PH: 630-377-2628 FAX: 630-377-3250
EMAIL: DZEDAN@AOL.COM
WEBSITE: WWW.NFFONLINE.COM
FOOD SAFETY &
SALMONELLA
It’s Not Just A Sheller Problem!
ARE YOU NUTS?
All nuts are not created equal
 Growing /Handling Differences
 Processing Differences
 What can you do to insure that the nuts the
consumer purchases are safe?

RECENT RECALLS



Since 2001, there have been major recalls involving
lettuce, almonds, tomatoes (later determined to be
peppers), spinach, peanuts and/or peanut butter,
pistachios, mayonnaise, milk, chocolate chip cookie
dough and most recently a possible pecan related
recall
Six of the aforementioned recalls involved nuts; two
almond recalls, two peanut butter and or peanut
related recalls, one pistachio recall and one possible
pecan recall
Three nut related recalls in past 10 months (peanut
butter, pistachios and pecans).
ARE YOU NUTS?
Domestic






Almonds
Walnuts
Pecans
Pistachios
Hazelnuts
Macadamias
Imported




Cashews
Hazelnuts/Filberts
Brazils
Macadamias
PEANUTS
Peanuts are legumes,
not ‘nuts’
 Grown in the soil
 Porous shell
 Peanuts go through a
dry cleaning & shelling
process

PEANUTS
Highly susceptible to
Aflatoxin, Salmonella
and E-Coli
 Blanching and Roasting
help to minimize micro
problems
 Industry is currently
working on a set of
GAP’s and GMP’s

ALMONDS
Member of the Peach
family
 Trees are not ‘selfpollinating’
 Porous shell
 Dry hulling process
 Dry shelling process

ALMONDS
Highly Susceptible to
Salmonella
 Two Salmonella related
industry recalls within 4
years (2001 & 2004)
 FDA/Almond Board
establish pasteurization
requirements

ALMONDS

The two Almond related Salmonella outbreaks
resulted in CFR 981 for almonds grown and
processed in California. This CFR requires a 4-log
reduction in Salmonella, not a 5-log reduction. This
is different than the lethality required for other
products such as juice. However, the research
employed at UC Davis and Cornell determined that
a 5-log reduction was not necessary in almonds.
WHAT IS MEANT BY A 4-LOG REDUCTION?
A process that results in a 1-log reduction will
kill 99% of the target organism
 A 2-log reduction will kill 99.9% of the target
organism
 A 3-log reduction will kill 99.99% of the
target organism
 A 4-log reduction will kill 99.999% of the
target organism

HOW SAFE IS SAFE?
FDA 3/9/2009 Guidance on Production of Foods
Containing Peanut Derived Ingredients
recommends – ‘obtain ….ingredients only from
suppliers who use production processes that have
been demonstrated to adequately reduce the
presence of Salmonella, or that ensure that their
own manufacturing process would adequately
reduce the presence of Salmonella.’
FOOD SAFETY INITIATIVES

Grocery Manufacturers Association
 Pushing
for the entire industry to adopt GFSI
standards (Global Food Safety Initiative)
 Classifies
suppliers as Low, Medium or High Risk; all
nut suppliers are considered High risk.
 Require all suppliers to be SQF (Safe Quality Food) or
BRC (British Retail Consortium) certified
 Wal-Mart and Kroger are requiring all suppliers to be
either SQF or BRC certified
FOOD SAFETY INITIATIVES

Federal Food Safety Legislation
 As
currently drafted, nuts will be considered
‘High’ risk
 Will add traceability requirements, HACCP
plans, third party audits, several FDA inspections
per year for high risk plants, additional record
keeping requirements, etc.
 May add some testing requirements for imports
WHAT CAN GROWERS TO TO HELP?


Visit www.almondsarein.com
Food Quality & Safety
Food Quality & Safety Program
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Documentation
Employee Training
Fertilizer & Soil Amendment
Practices
Water Quality & Source
Orchard Floor Management
Field Sanitation and Employee
Hygiene
Pest Control
Summing Up
WHAT CAN GROWERS TO TO HELP?


Visit www.almondsarein.com –
Food Quality & Safety
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP’s)



Use of Manure/Chicken manure
in orchards
Avoid pooling of water on orchard
floors
Don’t let product sit on orchard
floor longer than necessary
PISTACHIO HARVESTING MACHINE
MICROBIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS & PECANS

The E. coli contamination in pecans that arose in the 1950’s was
addressed with either (or both) sanitizing solutions and heated
water immersion to destroy any coincidental environmental
contamination on whole pecans. The USFDA’s “Guide to
Inspections of Manufacturers of Miscellaneous Food Products –
Volume 1” – p7, sec.4 states “Evaluate the firm's tempering and
sanitizing of in-shell nuts to determine if these processing steps
are adequate to prevent contamination of equipment down
stream which could result in contamination of nut meats with E.
Coli. If the firm is using hot water for this purpose is processing
time and temperature adequate to sanitize in-shell nuts [see
chart, attachment 4 for E. coli heat resistance (moist heat)]?”
Attachment 4 states that the required time at 75C(167F) is 2
seconds. There are no additional heat requirements for
processing pecans.
INDUSTRY INITIATIVE

Dr. Larry Beuchat-Center for Food Safety,
University of Georgia
 Initiated
by the NPSA. NPSA has agreed to fund
$16,000.00 of the costs
 Will evaluate various shelling processes to
determine which work best in the elimination of
Salmonella
 Industry needs to follow-up with Industry wide
GAP’s & GMP’s
‘THOSE THAT FAIL TO LEARN FROM
HISTORY ARE DESTINED TO REPEAT IT’
QUESTIONS?