Health Law

More Victims, More Pepper Recalled

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

The nationwide outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo grew some today in both numbers of victims and recalled products.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta said 249 people in 44 states and the District of Columbia were infected with the same Salmonella strain as the strain that was isolated from contaminated pepper.

A week ago, the victim count stood at 245.

Iowa's Frontier Products Co-op meanwhile recalled several of its products made with non-organic black pepper under the Frontier and Whole Foods brands that contain black pepper supplied by Mincing Overseas Spice Company.

Mincing is one of two pepper suppliers to Daniele Inc., the Rhode Island ready-to-eat meat company with product that was originally associated with the outbreak in January. Daniele has recalled 1.4 million pounds of its meat product.

Mincing and Brooklyn-based Wholesome Spice supplied black and red pepper to Daniele, which were used an ingredients in the ready-to-eat meats, especially Italian-style salami. Both Mincing and Wholesome are recalling some pepper.

Frontier said its recall is due to the fact that pepper from Mincing may be contaminated with Salmonella.

Recalled products were sold in all 50 states and in some parts of Canada to distributors, retailers, and consumers.

On foil bulk packages, the lot codes will be found on the front label directly above the UPC code.

On bottled glass and plastic items, the lot codes can be found on the bottom of the bottle.

Consumers should not consume these products. Please contact Frontier with any questions or to inquire about replacement or reimbursement at 1-800-669-3275, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central time.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on March 12, 2010 (boomark / email).