After installation, nut producer's liability dropped significantly.

A leading U.S. nut producer encountered a particularly unusual product contamination problem recently when shotgun pellets were discovered inside the nuts themselves.

Paramount Farms of Lost Hills, Calif., is the largest producer of pistachios in the U.S. and additionally supplies almonds and fruit roll-ups. The metal contamination was the result of hunters in the surrounding orchards who indiscriminately fire their weapons. Blossoms can trap a pellet so that when the nut is finally formed, it encompasses the lead shot.