Safe Shopping: Pistachio Co. Expands Recall

April 7, 2009— -- Shoppers trying to steer clear of bad pistachios will soon have a longer list of foods to avoid after a major expansion of the nut recall.

Today, David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's assistant commissioner for food safety, told ABC News that's because the FDA has found positive salmonella tests on equipment at the plant Setton Pistachio.

The test results have prompted the company to voluntarily recall most of its products made in 2008, which were shipped out to dozens of food companies. The recall includes pistachios sent in bulk to 28 states and 14 countries outside of the United States.

The FDA cannot yet say how many additional products may be recalled, but explained that it is working with distributors and trying to get its recall list updated as quickly as possible.

Like the peanut recall, it could take months to figure out every pistachio product that might be unsafe to eat. More than 2 million pounds of pistachios were already recalled last week that came from Setton, the second largest pistachio producer in the country.

Click here for the FDA's current list of recalled products.

Click here for the pistachio industry's Web site, which lists products that are OK to eat.

Until now, investigators had not found positive salmonella tests at the pistachio plant. Instead, one of Setton's customers found the bacteria on some of the pistachios. The FDA announced the broadened recall on its Web site Monday night.

"So far the FDA has found two positive samples from environmental testing in the processing facility," Acheson told ABC News. Acheson also said investigators had taken hundreds of samples and could still come up with more positives.

Acheson also said those positive tests came from equipment that handles pistachios before the roasting process -- a process that is supposed to kill the bacteria. Still, he said, "It gives you a sense that the microbiological controls are not, were not where they should be in 2008."

The FDA last inspected the facility now at the center of the investigation in 2003 and found no problems. The state of California inspected the company sometime in 2008 and did not find anything alarming.

That was the case, despite the fact that Kraft Foods and the Georgia Nut Co. started getting positive salmonella tests 15 months ago on products they ultimately traced to Setton.