Trader Joe’s Recalls Cashews

Today, Trader Joe’s grocery stores issued a recall for its Trader Joe’s brand Raw Cashew Pieces, pictured above. Trader Joe’s issued a statement saying that the supplier of the cashews warned that some of the bags may contain salmonella bacteria.

Trader Joe’s says that the particular batch of cashews that may have been affected all have the following code on the bag:

BEST BEFORE 07.17.2016TF4

According to the Trader Joe’s website, the Raw Cashew Pieces were available in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin.

Trader Joe’s says that they are only making the recall due to “an abundance of caution” and that all Raw Cashew Pieces have been removed from their stores. At the same time, Trader Joe’s urges their customers to either discard the cashews or to return it to any Trader Joe’s for a full refund if it has the code on the bag listed above.

As of the present time, Trader Joe’s says that no illnesses have been reported resulting from the potential salmonella bacteria contamination.

Trader Joes recall? If you can’t go to trader joes where the hell could you go

— Chelsy (@ForeverIamLady) December 17, 2015

What illnesses might be possible if one were to eat a food contaminated with salmonella?

Salmonella is actually found throughout the entire world in both cold and warm blooded animals, as well as in the natural environment. However, some strains of salmonella bacteria can cause some pretty ugly illnesses such as food poisoning (aka salmonella poisoning), typhoid fever, and paratyphoid fever.

People who get salmonella poisoning usually develop symptoms between 12 and 72 hours from when they initially get infected. The symptoms can include stomach cramps, fever and diarrhea. Once infected, the illness can last as long as seven days, and most people recover from it without medical treatment. However, sometimes the diarrhea can get so bad that individuals have to be hospitalized. Usually in this instance, the salmonella bacteria has spread from the intestines into the blood stream. Those individuals need to be treated with antibiotics such as ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, or ciprofloxacin quickly, or they could die.

Persons who are infected with salmonella poisoning should drink plenty liquids to re-hydrate themselves.

Trader Joe’s is a chain of specialty grocery stores that was founded in 1958, in Pasadena, California, by Joe Coulombe. As of last year, 457 Trader Joe’s grocery stores were spread out across the country. Most of the Trader Joe’s are in Southern California, though they now boast stores in over 40 states. In 1979, Trader Joe’s was purchased from Joe Coulombe by the same German company that owns the Aldi grocery stores in the United States.

Trader Joe’s stocks about 4,000 items per store, compared to as many as 50,000 items in other similar grocery stores, and over 80 percent of the items bear one of the Trader Joe’s brand names. Products include gourmet foods, vegetarian foods, unusual frozen foods, and imported wine and beer. Trader Joe’s maintains that most of its products are “environmentally friendly” and claims to offer numerous “organic” products. However, those claims have sometimes been called into question due to the company’s notoriously secretive business practices. However, the company states that all of its private-label products contain no artificial flavors, preservatives, trans fats or MSG. It also states that its dairy products are only made from milk obtained from cows that were not given the artificial growth hormone rBST.

[Image via Trader Joe’s website]