Washington apples free of Listeria contamination says supplier
Thursday, 26 February 2015 00:00
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The Managing Director of the SCS Group of India, Keith Sunderlal, said yesterday that apart from Granny Smith and Gala apples shipped from Bidart Brothers’ packaging facility in Shafter, California, all other US apples, including those grown in Washington State, were not contaminated by the bacteria Listeria.
He asserted that apples grown in Washington State were not part of a recall order made by Bidart Brothers to its various export destinations. Listeria contamination of US apples had a severely detrimental effect on the country’s export of the fruit throughout the world, especially in South Asian countries.
“That contamination was limited to these two brands of apples from the company. Fourteen countries have been notified of possible contaminated shipments of apples and Sri Lanka was on the list but to our knowledge none of those apples reached Sri Lanka,” he said.
He asserted that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had warned all trading partners known to have sourced apples from Bidart Brothers about the contamination.
Sunderlal said the countries notified were Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The FDA has also listed specific products that are being recalled on its website and has not included Washington-grown apples.
The US apple market is the second largest in the world after China. Washington apples constitute around 40% of the Sri Lankan imported apple market and the issue has reduced market demand by around 19%-20%.
“The Sri Lankan market is an important market to us. It is small but growing. Sunderlal said that the country could pay more attention to the Lankan market after its economic growth and freshly earned peace.
He further stated that Bidart Brothers had issued a voluntary recall after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detected Listeria Monocytogenes in environmental samples taken at the packing plant located in Shafter, California. He said that all other US apples, including those grown in Washington State, were not part of the Bidart Brothers recall.
