By Matthew Boyle March 11 (Bloomberg) — Salmonella contamination at a Nevada food-flavoring plant may trigger the recall of as many as 10,000 products, according to a Consumers Union scientist. PepsiCo Inc. joined Procter & Gamble Co. , Nestle SA and McCormick & Co. yesterday in recalling food containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP. The widespread use of the flavoring means more companies will follow, said Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, the Yonkers, New York-based advocacy group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine. More than 100 items, including two flavors of P&G’s Pringles and a store-brand ranch dip found in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., had been pulled as of yesterday, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Web site. Soups, sauces, chili, hot dogs, snack foods, dips and dressings are among the processed foods that often contain the vegetable protein, according to the FDA. “It’s a wake-up call for the food industry as a whole to be more thorough in evaluating the safety of ingredients,” said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. “Big companies are putting their trust in suppliers, which is their Achilles heel.” The tally of products will rise over the next few weeks, FDA officials said March 4, declining to provide an estimate. The recall has the potential to be the largest ever by number of products, although the total isn’t yet known, said Rita Chappelle , an FDA spokeswoman. The contaminated HVP was made by Las Vegas-based Basic Food Flavors and discovered by one of its customers, which alerted the FDA, officials of the agency said on a March 4 conference call. Dave Wood, director of sales and marketing at Basic Food Flavors, wasn’t available to comment. No Illnesses To date, there are no known illnesses associated with the contaminated HVP, which is sometimes referred to as a “natural flavor” on ingredient labels. The FDA has said the overall risk to consumers is low because most products containing HVP are cooked during processing or are cooked by consumers, which would eliminate any salmonella. In uncooked, ready-to-eat products, like chips and dips, the risk is greater. In an inspection report sent to Basic Food Flavors, FDA investigators said they found salmonella on “non-food contact surfaces” near some food processing equipment. The contaminations were found where the HVP powder is mixed with other ingredients to be packaged into final products, according to the report. Basic Food Flavors continued to make and distribute HVP for several weeks after it knew its plant was contaminated, the FDA said in the report. ‘Abundance of Caution’ PepsiCo said yesterday in a statement that it voluntarily recalled its Quaker Baked Cheddar Snack Mix. HVP is a “very minor” ingredient in the seasoning of the snack, which was recalled “out of an abundance of caution,” the Purchase, New York-based company said. On March 5, McCormick, the seller of spices and herbs, recalled four products, including a French onion dip mix. Three days later, a North American unit of Nestle said it was recalling about 6,000 pounds (2,722 kilograms) of a ready-to-eat bacon base product. The same day, Cincinnati-based P&G recalled the two flavors of Pringles. Wal-Mart’s Great Value Ranch Chip Dip, manufactured for the world’s largest retailer by the T. Marzetti Co. of Columbus, Ohio, has been pulled from the shelves, according to Wal-Mart spokeswoman Anna Taylor. PepsiCo rose 7 cents to $64.43 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. McCormick , based in Sparks, Maryland, rose 13 cents to $38.10. Nestle, based in Vevey, Switzerland, rose 35 centimes to 53.90 Swiss francs in Zurich. Rising Costs The costs associated with tainted products for food companies worldwide will balloon to as much as $15 billion annually in coming years, up from about $400 million in 2004, according to Constanze Freienstein, a senior principal at A.T. Kearney’s consumer and retail practice in Chicago. Eating products containing salmonella can cause fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people. A nationwide salmonella outbreak traced to a South Georgia peanut processing plant in late 2008 was blamed for at least nine deaths and hundreds of illnesses. Legislation passed last year by the House and held up in the Senate would require companies to check their products and manufacturing process for contaminates, said Chappelle , the FDA spokeswoman. Under the proposed law, the FDA would be able to mandate food recalls when contaminations occur, a process that is currently voluntary for companies, she said. “We’re dealing with much more complicated processes and contaminations than when the current law was passed,” Sandra Eskin, director of the food safety campaign with the Pew Health Group, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “This is a legislative shift that’s necessary so the FDA will have authority to develop food safety plans, see where contaminations could occur, and set up procedures to prevent them from happening.” To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Boyle at Mboyle20@bloomberg.net .
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Food Recalls From Salmonella May Rise to 10,000 in Industry ‘Wake-Up Call’
