Disease detective Melissa Plantenga picked up the phone earlier this month and started calling five Oregon residents who had been stricken with salmonella poisoning. Armed with a 400-question survey, her job was to find the source of the food-borne illness.
By the third call, Plantenga, who tracks food-borne diseases for the Oregon Department of Human Services, knew something weird was afoot. Each time she asked them whether they'd eaten "almonds in the shell," as her questionnaire instructed, the person on the other end of the line would answer, "No, only shelled raw almonds." And in each instance, the respondent said they bought their nuts at a Costco Wholesale Corp. store.
Plantenga had detected a pattern that would force Los Angeles-based Paramount Farms Inc., the nation's largest almond grower, to recall 13 million pounds of almonds over the last week, equivalent to about a quarter of its annual production.
Paramount spokesman Chris Tuffli said Monday that the privately held company was cooperating with state and federal officials to discover the exact source of the salmonella outbreak. He said the decision to pull its almonds out of circulation was an aggressive step to protect consumers.
The recall -- the largest ever of California almonds -- has roiled the state's $1.2-billion industry.
"There's no question that this could be a major comedown for us," said Glenn Anderson, who has a small, organic almond farm south of Modesto. "And it's a real shame because it comes at a time when we are seeing increasing supply, increasing demand and higher prices."
California farmers supply about 80% of the world's almonds, up from 60% a decade ago, growth fueled in part by opening up new markets, such as India and Eastern Europe.
"I just hope this situation doesn't derail the positive momentum the industry is enjoying," said Doug Youngdahl, chief executive of Sacramento-based Blue Diamond Growers, the world's largest almond cooperative.
California produces more than 1 billion pounds of almonds annually on about 550,000 acres, making the nut the state's sixth-largest crop. Almonds also represent the state's top agricultural export, with about $829 million worth sent overseas annually.
The health of California's farm economy was the last thing on the Oregon medical sleuth's mind as she continued her interviews.
"After the fourth call I did a literature search," Plantenga said. She discovered that California almonds were responsible for a salmonella outbreak in Canada three years ago.
