I was displeased by what seemed like many non-whole cashews in the last couple of PLANTERS Deluxe Lightly Salted Whole Cashews I purchased from Amazon. Although I don't mind eating non-whole cashews, I would not be proud to offer these to guests.

I separated the whole cashews and the non-whole cashews and weighed them. There were 338g (65%) of whole cashews and 179g (35%) partial cashews, halves and smaller bits.

• 
• 
• 

The explanation from Hormel Foods, the parent company of PLANTERS:

This product is sold by a third party on Amazon. We say its normal for about 15% when purchasing at the store, however because this is than transferred from a store and shipped out in addition its possible for more product damage.

I can send a refund out for this container! Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

• 

While this is a satisfying outcome, I am skeptical about the explanation. I don't know whether I actually bought these from a third party on Amazon - I thought I had bought them from Amazon and the current Amazon listing says that they ship from and are sold by Amazon.

For comparison, I characterized Trader Joe's Roasted & Salted Whole Cashews which I purchased at a local Trader Joe's. The clear packaging is clearly superior and renders moot any information regarding the transportation and handling of the product.

The composition of the Trader Joe's cashews was 372g (81%) whole cashews and 88g (19%) partial cashews, halves and smaller bits. The total weight of the Trader Joe's cashews was 460g - a little more than the weight written on the package (454g). The Planters total weight was the same as the promised weight. This is a small sample, but it could be that it is more difficult to fill a package to a given weight when using larger units.

• 
• 
•