If you purchased organic raw almonds from Whole Foods in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Reno, Nevada and Boise, Idaho, they may have elevated levels of naturally occurring hydrogen cyanide.  Just saying, there is potential harm even when you try to eat healthy! Everything we do in life comes with some element of risk.  There is no such thing as a risk-free life–be informed and make your choices on your path to the end of your life.  Don’t misunderstand–I do mean to emphasize that you should try to be as informed as you can without becoming completely obsessed so that you can mitigate potential harm and make your path as smooth and fulfilling as possible.  However, never believe that you are making a choice between “risk” or “no risk.”  Fortunately, our public health system works behind the scenes to prevent disease and the FDA prohibits the sale of unprocessed bitter almonds because of the risk of cyanide toxicity.  But accidents happen and still the public health system functions to prevent compounding our errors through its excellent recall notification system.

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, please be informed that Marin Foods Specialties, Inc. of Byron, California is voluntarily recalling Organic Raw Almonds (bitter almonds), due to them possibly containing elevated levels of naturally occurring hydrogen cyanide according to laboratory test results.  The recalled product was distributed to Whole Foods Market stores only in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Reno, Nevada and Boise, Idaho.  Please, read the official FDA notice for important details on stores, label photos and instructions on what to do if you’ve purchased any of these products.  Take a look at Livestrong.com for a concise article, “Can You Get Cyanide Poisoning from Eating Almonds?”