The manufacturer of a flavor enhancer being recalled knew its plant was contaminated with salmonella but continued to make and sell the product anyway, the Food and Drug Administration says.
Made by Basic Food Flavors in Las Vegas, the flavor enhancer, called hydrolyzed vegetable protein, is used in hundreds of products, including bouillons, dips, dressings and snack mixes. The FDA began a recall of the product last week.
The Washington Post reports:
Basic Food Flavors tested surfaces near food-processing equipment throughout its plant twice in January and once in February, and each time the samples showed salmonella contamination, according to FDA records. The company continued to ship products and to make more HVP without cleaning the plant or the equipment in a way that would have minimized contamination, the records said.
The Post notes that knowingly selling tainted food products is illegal. An FDA spokeswoman quoted in the article said the agency was reviewing the case.
