7 replies to this topic

[sanidadexterior]

S. Martinelli and Company is a California-based company dedicated to the production of alcoholic cider and apple juice since 1868. 

Unless you grow your own apples, you will need to purchase them from external suppliers, with apples being the main ingredient in your products.

Therefore, it is especially important to properly identify the risks associated with apples and establish an appropriate apple supplier assessment program. Among the risks associated with apples as raw materials are pesticide residues, arsenic, and patulin.

At S. Martinelli and Company, this program does not appear to be functioning properly in light of the two recent recalls :

 

:-  Recall F-1220-2024 of April 16, voluntary, class II, presence of excessive amounts of inorganic arsenic in 147,000 bottles in 35 states and Panama

 

https://urmfoodservi...UNFI_Notice.pdf

 

- Recall 96542 of March 18, 2025, voluntary, class II, for presence of excessive amount of patulin in 170,000 bottles in 28 states

 

https://www.accessda...es/?Event=96542

[AZuzack]

The apple juice was over a limit that was lowered to drinking water standards of 10 parts per billion.  Martinelli's juice with 11-12ppm of inorganic Arsenic was sellable in Europe where the limit for juice is .02ppm or 20ppb.  Yes, it is the company's responsible to qualify their suppliers but so many suppliers do not understand how their neighbors impact them.  Look at all the E. Coli recalls of vegetables.  The water run-off from the neighboring animal farms are contaminating the water used for vegetable farms.  Currently, there are no regulations requiring one agricultural business to avoid screwing over their neighbors.  So until the communities and companies care about how they are all connected, there's no way for an apple orchard to protect itself from its neighbor using an Arsenic based pesticide.  

 

I'm less forgiving of the mycotoxin incident, since I drank a bottle of their juice that may have been part of the recall. 

Edited by AZuzack, 30 May 2025 - 12:38 PM.

[Scampi]

I'm feeling spicy today so I am going to say this 

 

I cannot fathom how sooooooooooo many people "couldn't' figure out" where the E.coli was coming from  when you would be able to see with your own eyes the feedlot/pasture for beef cattle AND the irrigation ditch they used to water the lettuce

[AZuzack]

I'm feeling spicy today so I am going to say this 

 

I cannot fathom how sooooooooooo many people "couldn't' figure out" where the E.coli was coming from  when you would be able to see with your own eyes the feedlot/pasture for beef cattle AND the irrigation ditch they used to water the lettuce

Yep, Americans and many other countries do not value education and critical thinking.  But honestly it is easy to forget the STEC wasn't an issue 40 years ago and internet is not accessible everywhere that food is produced.  

[jfrey123]

I'm feeling spicy today so I am going to say this 

 

I cannot fathom how sooooooooooo many people "couldn't' figure out" where the E.coli was coming from  when you would be able to see with your own eyes the feedlot/pasture for beef cattle AND the irrigation ditch they used to water the lettuce

 

PrimusGFS are really fun for this because they put GPS markers hotlinked right on the audit report.  I can read an audit that says there's no environmental risk from neighboring operations, then I click the link and it opens a map where I use the terrain features to determine a canal running down from a plot with cows in the satellite imagery.  Fun, now we drill down further: are they flood irrigating like they should or spraying which is almost universally bad?  What's the washing protocol at the packinghouse?  So on, so forth.

 

Fruit and vegetables are dirty, no way around Mother Nature.  But there are steps that can be taken to eliminate the hazards.

[Scampi]

Yep, Americans and many other countries do not value education and critical thinking.  But honestly it is easy to forget the STEC wasn't an issue 40 years ago and internet is not accessible everywhere that food is produced.  

I was pointing this at the FDA --they have plenty of access and should possess both critical thinking and education

[GMO]

Yep, Americans and many other countries do not value education and critical thinking.  But honestly it is easy to forget the STEC wasn't an issue 40 years ago and internet is not accessible everywhere that food is produced.  

 

40 years is a long time in food safety.  Listeria wasn't known as a foodborne pathogen until 1981.  That's not an excuse.

[sanidadexterior]

Posted 30 May 2025 - 02:33 PM

The apple juice was over a limit that was lowered to drinking water standards of 10 parts per billion.  Martinelli's juice with 11-12ppm of inorganic Arsenic was sellable in Europe where the limit for juice is .02ppm or 20ppb. 

 

Hi AZuzack, your observation that Martinelly apple juice could have been legally marketed in the EU is very brilliant.

Comparing FDA and EU legislation regarding arsenic, it can be seen that the AS limit for cereal-based infant foods is 100 ppb in the US and five times lower in the EU (20 ppb), while the limit for apple juice in the US is 10 ppb and double that in Europe (20 ppb).

In USA the limit for apple juice is the same as for drinking water.

Obviously, exposure to inorganic arsenic is lower from apple juice consumption (6.5 liters per year) than from water consumption (up to 730 liters per year).

In recall F-1220-2024, Martinelli could be as much to blame for not controlling the arsenic content of his raw materials as the FDA for setting the same action limit for apple juice as for drinking water.