Krinos Foods, LLC. of Long Island City, New York is voluntarily recalling its TAHINI sesame paste, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonellacan result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The TAHINI sesame paste product comes in 1 LB and 2 LB glass jars. The UPC code of the 1 LB jar is 0-75013-28500-3 and the 2 LB jar is 0-75013-28510-2. The recalled lots have a code stamped on the lid between “EXP OCT 16 – 2014” up to and including “EXP MAR 15 – 2015”.

To Krinos’s knowledge, no illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this recall.

The potential for contamination was noted after the Michigan Department of Agriculture conducted routine testing on a sample of the product in a retail store and advised Krinos of the positive test results. Krinos has ceased distribution of the product as FDA, the Michigan Department of Agriculture, and the company, continue their investigation as to what caused the problem.