FDA Announces Recalls of Spices Over Fears of Salmonella Contamination

Earlier this fall, Warner Brothers pushed the release of the much-anticipated Denis Villeneuve film Dune back to 2021. That means we'll all have to wait another year to see Timothee Chalamet visit the fictional planet of Arrakis, a key source of a substance called "spice" in the sci-fi film's universe.

Here on earth, you might want to indefinitely delay the consumption of some spices you might have in your kitchen, if two recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcements are any indication.

Earlier in October, two companies, Sauer Brands and Red Monkey Foods, voluntarily recalled a handful of their spices sold both in stores and online. The issue in both cases seems to stem from organic parsley, which tested positive for salmonella.

In the case of Red Monkey Foods, that parsley was packaged for sale to consumers, and also used to prepare certain spices, while Sauer's salmonella issues pertained to organic parsley used during two days of spice production, as well as in parsley flakes sold to consumers.

For Red Monkey Foods, the recalled products include various forms of organic parsley and Herbes De Provence, which you can find more details about here.

The list of voluntarily recalled spices is rather extensive in the case of Sauer Brands, though all of them fall under the company's The Spice Hunter line of products. You can find a full list of recalled items, including product lots and best-by dates via the FDA's official announcement. Sauer Brands' recalled products were sold in 31 states across the country, while Red Monkey Foods' products were sold in all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico through retailers including Walmart.

While salmonella sounds (and is) kind of scary, neither recall has led to any confirmed cases of the illness. Still, you may want to check your spice rack before doing any seasoning just to be safe.