Courtesy Pacific International Marketing Inc.Pacific International Marketing Inc.of Salinas, Calif., is voluntarily recalling more than 6,000 cartons of cilantro because of possible salmonella contamination. No illnesses have been reported, but in response to a positive test for salmonella in a sample of cilantro, Pacific International Vegetable Marketing Inc. is recalling 6,141 cartons that were distributed in seven states.
Recall notices on the websites of the Salinas, Calif., company and the Food and Drug Administration state the cilantro was available at retail stores from Nov. 10 through Dec. 9.
Cilantro in bunches and sleeves is involved. The bunched cilantro all has the UPC code of 33383 80104. The cilantro in sleeves has the UCP code of 40695 80104. The codes are on the twist ties of the bunched cilantro and on the actual sleeves of the other cilantro.
Steven Tripp, general counsel for Pacific International, said the company received notice of the positive test result late Dec. 9. Company officials asked the FDA for food safety details such as when and where the positive sample was taken and how many samples total were taken.
“We are working closely with the FDA in the investigation,” Tripp said the morning of Dec. 12. “We asked for testing details, but haven’t gotten the answers yet. We just found about it Friday night and have been working through the weekend on the recall.”
In its statement, the FDA said a test “at the distributor level” found the salmonella, which is from Salt River Farming near the Phoenix area. The FDA statement said the specific source of the contamination is not yet known.
The cilantro was distributed in California, Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana, South Carolina and Missouri through retailers. According to Pacific and the FDA, it was in cartons of 60 bunches, 30 bunches and 20 three-bunch sleeves.The carton codes are:
Courtesy Pacific International Marketing Inc.The recalled cilantro was shipped in cartons such as this one. 19 78 111411
19 78 111811
19 78 111911
19 78 112111
19 84 111811
19 84 111911
19 94 111811
19 94 111911
Pacific International has been operating since 1989 and ships 20 million packages annually from its California facitilities. It is the marketing arm for Dynasty Farms Inc. and Pure Pacific Organics, both which have growing operations in California and Arizona. Salt River Farm is a separate farming operation and not affiliated with Dynasty or Pure Pacific.
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