The ready-to-eat meat maker Daniele International Inc., with operations in Pascoag and Mapleville, R.I., is expanding its January 23rd recall of 1.24 million pounds of salami/salame.
It added approximately 17,235 pounds of Italian sausage products, including salami/salame, which may be contaminated with Salmonella to the recall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced late Sunday.
The recall is being expanded as a result of a confirmed finding of Salmonella in an unopened salami product reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The product was sampled during the course of an ongoing investigation of a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella serotype Montevideo illnesses.
The product tested was not included in the previous recall issued January 23, but is similar to products bought by customers who later became sick in the Montevideo investigation.
Product subject to the expanded recall may have been cross contaminated with black pepper before it was packed. The company believes that black pepper is a possible source of Salmonella contamination.
The Rhode Island Department of Health has confirmed that Salmonella has been found in samples of ground black pepper taken from an open container at Daniele.
The Salmonella recovered from Daniele’s black pepper from Wholesome Spice matches the outbreak strain of Salmonella Montevideo.
As of last Friday, the CDC reports that a total of 202 individuals infected with a matching strain of Salmonella Montevideo have been reported from 42 states and District of Columbia since July 1, 2009.
The number of ill persons identified in each state with this strain is as follows: AK (1), AL (2), AZ (5), CA (30), CO (4), CT (4), DC (1), DE (2), FL (3), GA (3), IA (1), ID (2), IL (11), IN (3), KS (3), LA (1), MA (12), MD (1), ME (1), MI (3), MN (4), MO (1), NC (9), ND (1), NE (1), NH (1), NJ (7), NM (2), NY (16), OH (9), OK (1), OR (9), PA (5), RI (2), SC (1), SD (3), TN (4), TX (7), UT (7), VA (1), WA (15), WV (1), and WY (2).