So today at work I heard some disturbing news. First if you actually like almonds, you may not want to read this. :-)

Every year we have to sell/dispose of inedible almonds. These can sell for about $.20/lb. They are not fit for human consumption, however, they can be used for animal feed, primarily cattle. We will usually sell the inedible almonds to the oil stock people who will press the almonds to get the oil out of them. So, yes, this is where almond oil comes from...it comes from almonds that aren't fit for human consumption. So why is the oil okay? I have no idea.

What makes an almond inedible? First I have to explain a little about almond harvesting. When the almonds are ready, we will shake the trees to drop the nuts on the ground. Then the almonds are swept into nice neat rows. This is so we can continue to water the trees during the 1 1/2-2 weeks the almonds are drying on the ground. When the almond falls on the ground, more than likely it is still in the hull (the green fleshy part that is similar to a peach), as well as in the shell. So for a time the almonds are on the dirt. Finally they are swept up and brought to stockpiles to sit for a while longer, or they are immediately processed. While the almonds were on the tree, they were susceptible to disease or insect damage. When the almonds were on the ground, they are once again susceptible to insect damage. When the almonds are brought in, if there is a high moisture content, then the almonds are susceptible to mold.

Mold does make an almond inedible. Insect damage is actually another story. There is such a thing as good insect damage and bad insect damage. I have never bothered to figure out the difference, and bad insect damage is considered inedible. There are other things that make an almond inedible, but for this story, I don't need to go into them.

Sometime after we finished the season in February, mold was discovered in some of the bins. This is something we deal with every year. The normal course is to open up the bin to air it out and to stop the growth. Then the almonds are sold as inedible. However, when we dispose of inedibles, there are certain guidelines we have follow in order to not have to pay an assessment on those pounds. So, allegedly one of the foreman discovered the mold and decided to close the bag on the bin a bit tighter instead of airing it out. His theory was to make the % of inedibles higher so we surpass the guidelines by a lot when we disposed of it. However, too much mold makes the almonds a total loss. He apparently didn't know this, and so when he finally let us know about the 50,000 lbs, it was too late. So today we had to bury 50,000 lbs of almonds.

I was a bit disturbed to know that someone made this type of decision without running it by management. I don't think we would have closed up the bins if we had known. The second is to know that we had 50,000 of moldy product in the same vicinity as good product. I understand that it is in closed plastic bags, but I can't see that this would be a good thing.

Anyway, it is done. There isn't much I can do at this point. The ABC employee was at work today to witness the destruction of the almonds, and now they are gone.