Kraft Began Investigating Salmonella Source in '07

The AP reported that "Kraft Foods Inc., the company whose testing led to the nationwide pistachio recall, said Friday it first heard there was salmonella in its trail mix in late 2007, but could not trace the possible source to tainted nuts from California until two weeks ago." A Kraft spokeswoman said it took "thousands of tests" to pinpoint the source of the contaminated nuts. "Dr. David Acheson, FDA's assistant commissioner for food safety, said Kraft first told the administration about the problems last week." On Friday, "the FDA sent out a letter to the pistachio industry reminding nut processors to follow good manufacturing practices to protect consumers, something food safety experts called welcome guidance." Dr. Acheson said, "If they find problems in a product prior to shipment, they'll pull it back and destroy it. ... I wouldn't call that a good manufacturing practice, but that is clearly a good public health practice."