JoNel Aleccia reports that Costco Wholesale is warning between 130,000 and 140,000 members not to use certain packages of the firm’s Kirkland Signature Coarse Ground Malabar Black Pepper because the spice might be contaminated with salmonella.
Craig Wilson, Costco’s vice president for food safety, said Thursday that the company was making automated phone calls as a precaution after federal Food and Drug Administration officials detected Salmonella Duisburg, a rare strain, in some pepper samples in Texas. The affected bottles of ground black pepper have a best before date of March 2017, he said.
Letters advising Costco consumers typically follow the calls, which are routine whenever the Issaquah, Washington-based company learns of a potential food recall. No illnesses have been linked to the pepper, Wilson said.