California’s Abundant Agricultural Commodities Stay Gold

“Participation in FDA’s Manufactured Foods Regulatory Program Standards assessment and development plan positions CDFA to conduct inspection work under partnership agreements with FDA that reduce redundant layers of government oversight and promote greater efficiencies in inspection and public health protection,” Dr. Beam says. “Leveraging training opportunities provided by FDA to the states will assist CDFA in maintaining the specialized expertise essential to its role in ensuring food safety in the large and diverse dairy industry within California.”

Amazing Almonds

A rose by any other name may be an almond. That’s because, believe it or not, almonds are actually members of the rose family (Rosaceae) and are often called “the queen of the rose family.”

If almond trees are roses, there are an estimated 126.54 million of such roses in California, according to the 2015 Almond Almanac. That comes from a preliminary estimate for the 2015 -2016 crop year of 114 almond trees per acre on 890,000 acres with bearing trees and 220,000 acres of non-bearing trees, for a total of 1,100,000 total acres.

California’s almond production for 2015 is an estimated 1.894 billion meat pounds (edible part only, shells not included), according to the Almond Board of California’s (ABC) May 2016 position report. (The actual crop size won’t be known until the end of the fiscal year, which is the end of July.)

Almonds are California’s largest tree nut crop in acreage and total dollar value, not to mention the Golden State’s top agricultural export and the largest U.S. specialty crop export, according to the ABC, a federal marketing order funded by an annual assessment on the marketable kernel weight of almonds.

The California almond industry as a whole generates about 104,000 jobs statewide, resulting in more than $21 billion of gross revenue in California and adding about $11 billion dollars to the size of the state’s total economy, ABC reports.

“Thanks to its ideal growing conditions, including a mild climate, rich soil, and abundant sunshine, California is the world’s largest producer of almonds, with some 6,800 farms supplying more than 80 percent of the global demand,” says Tim Birmingham, ABC’s director of quality assurance and industry services. “Of those, 91 percent are family farms, many of which are owned and operated by third- and fourth-generation farmers.

More than a dozen years ago, some thorns pricked California’s rosy almond industry.

Specifically, almonds were implicated in two salmonellosis outbreaks. The first outbreak linked to the consumption of raw almonds occurred from 2000 to 2001, and caused illnesses in Canada and the U.S. due to a rare strain, Salmonella Enteriditis PT 30.

The second outbreak traced to the consumption of raw almonds occurred from 2003 to 2004, with illnesses again occurring in Canada and the U.S., this time due to Salmonella Enteriditis PT 9C. Product was recalled from more than 10 different countries.

“These outbreaks were really a watershed moment for the low moisture food industry,” Birmingham emphasizes. “At the time, conventional wisdom held that low moisture foods, almonds for just one, posed little food safety risk due to the fact that pathogens including Salmonella did not grow on products such as almonds. However, it turns out that pathogens can, indeed, survive in low moisture food products, and in some cases, even with low levels, cause illness.”

The California almond industry embraced these food safety challenges with a proactive approach.

As a result, this second outbreak actually led to the promulgation of the rule for the mandatory treatment of raw almonds to achieve a minimum four-log reduction of Salmonella. Almond pasteurization is now required by law in the U.S, Canada, and Mexico.