Whole Foods recalls raw macadamia nuts due to salmonella contamination

AUSTIN, Texas, June 26 (UPI) -- Whole Foods recalled 11-ounce packages of raw macadamia nuts due to the possibility of salmonella contamination, the company said Friday.

The voluntary recall, which was also announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, includes 11-ounce plastic packages labeled "Whole Foods Market Raw Macadamia Nuts" with best-by dates of March 19, 2016, through June, 21, 2016. The packages have a UPC code of 0-76958-62059-1.

The nuts were sold in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah Whole Foods stores.

No illness associated with the consumption of the macadamia nuts have been reported, though FDA testing showed samples of the product were contaminated with salmonella.

Customers who purchased the product should discard it and bring their receipt to Whole Foods for a full refund. Those with questions were encouraged to call Whole Foods at 512-477-5566, ext. 20060.

This is the second blow to Whole Foods this week. On Wednesday, New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs accused eight of the company's nine locations in the city of overcharging customers for pre-packaged foods sold by weight.

The department said Whole Foods regularly overstated the weight of pre-packaged foods, in one case overcharging $14.84 for one item.

Whole Foods denied the allegations.

"We cooperated fully with the DCA from the beginning until we disagreed with their grossly excessive monetary demands. Despite our requests to the DCA, they have not provided evidence to back up their demands nor have they requested any additional information from us, but instead have taken this to the media to coerce us. Our customers are our number one stakeholder and we highly value their trust in us," a statement emailed to UPI said.