Latest Salmonella Contamination Reaches Dietary Supplements

Break Ventures, of Santa Monica, Calif., and Beverly, Mass., firm Arthri-D LLC post recall announcements on Jan. 23, the same day FDA said it is investigating reports that eight people have been infected with the same strain, salmonella Montevideo, in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Dietary supplement firms on opposite US coasts are recalling products due to potential salmonella contamination, a problem FDA also is investigating linked to meals served at restaurants in the Midwest.

Break Ventures LLC, of Santa Monica, Calif., and Beverly, Mass., firm Arthri-D LLC posted recall announcements on FDA's website on Jan. 23, the same day the agency said it is investigating reports that eight people have been infected with the outbreak strain of salmonella Montevideo in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Break Ventures is recalling its California BasicsZero for Him supplement in 150-count containers after a potential for contamination was found when its routine testing revealed salmonella in one bottle. The product on recall was distributed nationwide through online sales in light amber bottles marked on the bottom with lot #1710-638 and stamped on the side with an expiration date of November 2020.

Arthri-D said the recall of its namesake supplement in 120-count containers also comes after routine testing revealed salmonella in one bottle. The product was distributed nationwide through mail orders in white plastic bottle with lot #1701-092 marked on the label and manufacturing date of March 2017 on the side.

Both firms said additional tests found no other indication of salmonella and both cited "abundance of caution" in recalling the products.

Raw Sprouts, Frozen Coconut

In its statement on food-borne salmonella, FDA said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 16 cited epidemiologic evidence as indicating raw clover sprouts served at Jimmy John’s restaurants in Illinois and Wisconsin are a likely source of a multistate outbreak of salmonella infections.

Seven of the eight reported cases are people who ate meals at Jimmy John’s restaurants in the two states the week before becoming sick. The most recent illness began on Jan. 3 and the Jimmy John’s chain announced Jan. 19 that it directed all of its retail locations to temporarily stop serving sprouts.

FDA said it working with Illinois and Wisconsin health, agriculture and consumer protection agencies to determine the cause of the outbreak by collecting invoices from various Jimmy John’s locations and or distributors to help determine the source of the clover sprouts.

In a separate announcement, FDA on Jan. 16 said it also is working with CDC and state and local agencies to investigate reports of salmonella Newport infections for 25 people in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma Pennsylvania and Washington. The infections potentially are linked to food that contained Coconut Tree brand frozen shredded coconut, FDA said.

The agency in 2017 responded to a similar marketplace threat as nut ingredients potentially contaminated with listeria initially were found in food and later were reported in nutritional products. (Also see "Nutritional Bars Caught In Listeria-Contaminated Nut Ingredient Recalls" - HBW Insight, 15 Jun, 2017.)

Convention food product manufacturers and marketers and to a lesser extent supplement firms are subject to preventive control requirements and other regulations established by the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, enacted largely in response to the distribution of salmonella-contaminated nut ingredients by Peanut Corp. of America. (Also see "Final Item On Congress' Food Safety Menu: Passing Enforcement Reform" - Pink Sheet, 3 Jan, 2011.)