A producer of peppers from North Carolina has issued a recall of 6,215 pounds of Serrano peppers after random sampled tested positive for salmonella. The entire lot of the Serrano peppers recalled was suspected of potentially being infected with the dangerous bacteria.
The producer is Bailey Farms Inc, of Oxford, North Carolina and they grow various types of chili peppers and also make hot sauces. The voluntary recalling of fresh Serrano chili peppers is a precaution measure, as no cases of salmonella were reported after consumption of the peppers.
Giant Food LLC (a unit of Ahold NV), supermarket operator, removed all the Serrano, Red Cherry Hot, Anaheim, Finger Hot peppers from their stores. Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. (also owned by Ahold) stopped selling chili peppers and revealed that they had not received any reports of people becoming ill.
Bi-Lo Holdings LLC also states that its stores, which include: Bi-Lo, Winn-Dixie and Harveys, have removed the fresh Serrano chili peppers after the recall notice.
The Serrano peppers recalled will be destroyed. Bailey Farms revealed that the Michigan Department of Agriculture took the sample which tested positive for Salmonella on October 13 from a warehouse in Lansing, Michigan. The Baily Farms Company was notified of the salmonella results on Monday.
The Serrano peppers recalled had no cause to become contaminated with salmonella. Baily is working alongside the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to get to the root cause of the issue.
The Serrano peppers in questions are not just being sold by Giant Food LLC.; several other distributors and chains sell them.
Giant Food LLC released a statement in which they confirmed that no cases of salmonella have been reported until now and that the customers to have bought the Serrano peppers from their stores should return them and they will receive a full refund.
If you cannot return the Serrano peppers to the store, you can contact Bailey Farms at 1-888-820-2545.
Other food items that have been recalled in the recent past due to salmonella contamination include: black pepper, almond butter, oregano and peanut butter.