An increased focus on food safety has prompted a Selma walnut processor to invest nearly $1 million on a system to kill harmful pathogens.
Mike Poindexter, third-generation operator of Poindexter Nut Co., has installed a pasteurizer at his plant that may be a first for the industry.
Unlike other foods, such as milk, walnuts are not required under federal law to be pasteurized. And only in the last three years have almonds undergone a sterilization treatment to kill bacteria like salmonella.
But Poindexter said he isn't waiting for the federal government to tell him what to do, especially as the walnut industry continues to gain export customers.
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