Hazelnut industry mounts safety push

Salmonella discovery in peanuts prompts FDA inspections

By MITCH LIES
Capital Press

Last September, three months before the Food and Drug Administration found salmonella in an Oregon hazelnut processing plant, the hazelnut industry met to address food safety.

Still, the discovery of salmonella in December at Willamette Shelling in Newberg, Ore., was a wake-up call, said Polly Owen, manager of the Hazelnut Industry Office.

And while additional inspections have failed to find salmonella, the industry is not letting down its guard, Owen said.

In a recent report to the Oregon Board of Agriculture, Owen said the industry is taking a two-pronged approach to ensuring hazelnuts are safe.

The first involves developing good handling and management practices.

The industry is using information from the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the California Almond Board to develop the programs.

The second involves educating growers and processors on safety measures.

"We want to make sure everybody is on the same page," Owen said.

The discovery of salmonella at the Newberg plant last December was unsettling on several fronts, Owen said. Willamette Shelling, one of about eight large-scale hazelnut processors in Oregon, had never tested positive for salmonella despite regular checks.

Because the plant was the first tested by FDA inspectors, the industry worried more salmonella could be found.

The recall eventually expanded to 10 farmers, retailers and wholesalers, including Whole Foods, Harry and David and several farms whose hazelnuts were processed at the plant.

FDA's decision to inspect Oregon hazelnut-processing plants was triggered by the discovery of salmonella in other nut products, including peanuts processed by Peanut Corp. of America in Georgia earlier in 2009.

The December recall, Owen said, was the only hazelnut recall ever conducted in Oregon.

The fact the FDA chose to inspect the Newberg processor first was strictly random, according to Vance Bybee, administrator of the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Division.

Ironically, hazelnut industry leaders in that September meeting decided to postpone addressing food safety until after harvest.

"We identified issues we thought we should take a look at," Owen said. "But we decided that because we were getting into harvest, we would wait until our next meeting in February to address the issues.

"We didn't know the FDA was already out and about," she said.

Workshops

The industry is hosting two food safety workshops on May 24-25 with experts from Oregon State University and the University of California-Davis. The workshops are at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Ore. Contact the Hazelnut Industry Office for more information at 503-678-6823.