WASHINGTON -- Wholesome Spice of Brooklyn, N.Y. spice company is recalling 25-pound boxes of commercial-grade crushed red pepper as the CDC and FDA investigate an outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo that infected consumers of Italian-style meats produced by a Rhode Island firm.
Reports of 238 patients infected with matching strains of Salmonella and a follow-up analysis comparing foods eaten by 41 well and 41 sick individuals found products from the manufacturer Daniele International of Pascoag, R.I. as the possible source of the illness.
Daniele subsequently recalled 30 suspect products.
Further analysis of products from Daniele found Salmonella in two samples of crushed red pepper from Wholesome Spice, the FDA said. The FDA is looking to see if the contaminated samples match the disease strain in the ill patients.
As a result of the analysis by the FDA and Rhode Island authorities, Wholesome Spice is recalling 25-pound boxes of its product. The FDA and company are investigating lots sold from April 6, 2009 to Jan. 10, 2010.
The containers are sold only to commercial customers, who, in turn, use the spice in a variety of retail products, so authorities want to determine if contaminated pepper made its way into additional foods.
It has not been determined if the recalled crushed red pepper has caused any of the illness to date.
The meat-product recall began on Jan. 23 and includes over 30 different packaged meat and cheese products, including salami/salames, prosciuttos, sopressata, and genoa.