Court Says Almond Farmers Can Challenge USDA Rule

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Aug. 3 overturned a previous decision and ruled that a group of California almond farmers have the right to challenge a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation requiring them to pasteurize or chemically treat almonds to prevent Salmonella outbreaks.

As reported by Food Safety News, the 2007 pasteurization rule was in response to a string of Salmonella outbreaks linked to almonds in 2001 and 2004. The Almond Board of California proposed mandatory sterilization across the industry to prevent future problems and the USDA agreed to implement and enforce the new rule. Raw and organic almond farmers opposed the measure over concerns of using propylene oxide, a probable carcinogen, to fumigate the nuts.

"We are delighted by the court's decision," said Will Fantle, research director at The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based sustainable agriculture advocacy group coordinating the legal strategy for the farmers' lawsuit. "At long last the farmers who have been injured by this rule will have the opportunity to stand in court and state why this poorly thought out regulation should be thrown out."

"I am very happy with this first step in overturning this destructive regulation," said Nick Koretoff, an almond farmer and plaintiff in the lawsuit. The treatment mandate has been a financial catastrophe for me. My consumers want raw, untreated, healthy almonds and I have been denied the opportunity to sell them what they want."

The court also dismissed the claims of companies that package and sell the almonds to consumers, finding that, as handlers," they must first exhaust their administrative remedies before turning to the courts to resolve their dispute.

Click here to read the complete ruling.