Almond Board salmonella plan published
Almonds, the largest specialty crop in the U.S., have been at the center of two salmonella outbreaks occurring in 2001 and 2004. The Almond Board of California (ABC) has proposed a plan to eliminate the potential for future outbreaks. Full story from Cary Blake at the Farm Press
“Almonds have to go through a kill step,” said ABC President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Waycott during the group’s Dec. 6 industry conference in Modesto, Calif. “You don’t want to take the chance of losing your ranch or someone dying from your almonds.” Because of previous salmonella incidents, regulators are focused on the almond industry.
“Because of the two incidents we’ve had, we are on the hard drive of regulators in this country…and we’ll probably stay there,” Walcott noted. “What happens when you have a couple of (food safety) incidents, you become one of the foods that is looked at when an incident occurs.”
