Spice recall sparks salmonella warning

A Michigan company is recalling ground black pepper that is sold nationwide over fears of potential salmonella contamination, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on Monday.

UBC Food Distributors in Dearborn, Michigan, issued the recall of ground black pepper sold under the brand name Baraka because it has the potential to be contaminated with salmonella, the FDA said in an online statement.

The recalled product comes in a seven-ounce, clear plastic container marked with the expiration date of January 2026 on the back of the label and has the UPC 8 22514 26626 6, the FDA said.

The black pepper was distributed nationwide at a variety of retail and grocery stores, according to the statement. As of Monday night, no illnesses have been reported, the FDA said.

“Production of the product has been suspended while the FDA and the company continue their investigation as to the source of the problem,” the federal agency said in the statement.

Newsweek reached out via email on Monday night to representatives of the FDA and UBC Food Distributors for comment and an update.

While the FDA did not state when the potential risk was discovered, the federal agency said it was warned about the potential contamination by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development after a “routine state surveillance sample collected by the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets” tested positive for the presence of salmonella.

Consumers who have bought the product are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.

The FDA describes salmonella as an organism that can cause “serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.”

“In rare circumstances, infection with salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis,” the FDA states.

Consuming food contaminated with salmonella can lead to salmonellosis, which is one of the most common bacterial foodborne infections, according to the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Symptoms typically include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever emerging within six hours to six days following the eating of the tainted food, FSIS states. The symptoms can last up to a week and treatment includes drinking extra fluids.

Every year, salmonella sickens roughly 1.35 million people and causes about 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths in the United States, according to annual estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.