The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Friday issued an alert about the shipment of imported in-shell hazelnuts - also called filberts – after concerns over a possible E. coli contamination.

The CFIA alert comes in the wake of the fact that a number of Americans have fallen ill after eating the packaged in-shell nuts, which have now been recalled by Los Angeles, US-based distributor DeFranco & Sons., after federal and state health officials discovered that these nuts were linked to seven cases of E. coli contamination in the Midwest.

The hazelnuts were sold under the brand names Sunripe, Firestone Farms, George Packing, and Northwest Hazelnut after November 16, 2010; and the sell-by date mentioned on most of them was June 30, 2011.

According to the CFIA, the bulk selling of these nuts was largely as Imperial Mixed Nuts, Supreme Mixed Nuts or as plain hazelnuts; but it is also possible that the bulk nuts may have been repackaged into smaller, unlabelled units. The affected nuts have chiefly distributed in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Cautioning the consumers about the hazelnuts believed to be linked to E.coli contamination, the CFIA said in a written statement: “If you have purchased bulk or unlabelled, in-shell hazelnuts or in-shell mixed nuts containing hazelnuts after Nov. 16, 2010, and are unsure if you have the recalled product, check with your place of purchase to determine if you have the affected product.”