Potentially Deadly Raisins Recalled In NYC

Don't trust these raisins!

What is that cacophony you, a person holding a 3.5-ounce package of golden raisins, hear crashing in behind you—something thunderous and winded and clattering like, could it be, a concerned citizen bent on timely intervention? Correct: It is I, the Raisin Police, coming in to smack that snack out of your hand before it kills you. Yes, kills you! Raisins can do that, you know.

Or, at least dehydrated grapes from Queens-based Deshi Distributors LLC could kill you, if you have a sulfite allergy. The company has issued a recall for 3.5 oz., 7 oz., and 14 oz. bags of its golden raisins due to the detection of "undeclared sulfites," chemicals that can occur in (among other food items) dried fruit and to which approximately 1 in 100 people are sensitive. If you are one of them, and if you go ahead and eat these raisins anyway, you might risk "serious or life-threatening allergic reactions," according to the Food and Drug Administration. Don't do it!

Specifically, you should avoid Deshi golden raisins whose cellophane houses bear the following UPC codes: 691035359586 on the 3.5 oz packets; 691035360179 on the 7 oz. packets; and 691035360483 on the 14 oz. packets. The contaminated shipments went out to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan: if you bought any of these insidious grapes, know that Deshi will refund raisin returns.

Also, to be clear, no one has died or become sick or even charted an allergic reaction due to raisin consumption, as far as the FDA knows. A routine test by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets first detected the sulfites in a package of raisins that didn't feature a heads up about the potential allergen on the label. Out of an abundance of caution, Deshi is recalling all the raisins in that lot.

Raisins love to hide in a vast variety of dishes and cuisines, and for this reason, I find them a particularly sneaky form of foodstuff, an often-unwelcome interloper. So please, exercise vigilance out there. The raisins can't be trusted.