KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Pistachio Recall Concerns Local Growers

Pistachio Recall Concerns Local Growers

By Ashley Ritchie and Winston Whitehurst

Susie Soltero and Raul Ruiz stopped at the Fresno State Market Tuesday to pick up some ribs.

"They have no ribs, so we're trying some pistachios, because they have samples," Soltero said.

Without concern, they popped a few pistachios in their mouths, well aware of the recent recall.

"There's a lot out there, so what are your chances."

On Fresno State's campus there are 22 acres of pistachios.

"We were concerned like everybody else," Ganesan Srinivasan, Fresno State's Director of Agricultural Laboratory, said.

Srinivasan says though the recall was startling, business is good.

But at the Western Pistachio Association, helping the public understand the details is difficult.

"The big, broad brush that was painted by the Food and Drug Administration caused there to be confusion in the market place, confusion in the consumers' minds about what products were safe, and what products were not safe," Richard Matoian, Western Pistachio Association, said.

Matoian says the amount of product affected was less than one-percent of the nation's total.

"If we can get them refocused on the fact that the tainted product is off the market and we have safe product on the market, then we can win consumers back, and hopefully, we just have a little blip in sales. But that still remains to be seen," Matoian said,

For Susie and Raul, a tainted pistachio is no more of a danger than anything else.

"I don't feel that people should just run and hide," Ruiz said.

Instead, they hope their fellow consumers will lend a hand to the local economy.

Setton Farms in Terra Bella, where the tainted pistachios came from, has voluntarily expanded its recall to include all roasted in-shell pistachios, roasted shell pistachios and raw shelled pistachios.

California's pistachio industry brings in about $600 million every year.

Of course you should definitely still keep an eye out for the tainted pistachios that came out of Terra Bella.