The Food and Drug Administration this week classified to its highest-risk designation a company’s voluntary recall of a salad dressing over concerns about salmonella contamination, the agency said.
The company, Salata Dressings of Houston, voluntarily recalled its Jalapeño Avocado Dressing in August.
Diced jalapeños in it were potentially linked to a widespread, multistate salmonella outbreak in jalapeño peppers that the F.D.A. had also been investigating.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the F.D.A. designated Salata’s recall as a Class 1, meaning that use of or exposure to a contaminated recalled product could lead to “serious adverse health consequences or death.”
The recalled 12.5-ounce bottles had best-by dates of Nov. 5, 13, 18 or 25, 2026, and the recalled one-gallon jugs had best-by dates of Oct. 6, 14, 20 and 26, according to Salata. More than 1,700 cases were distributed in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, the F.D.A. said.
No illnesses have been reported in connection to the salad dressing, according to the company and the F.D.A.
In children and those who are frail, cases of salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections. Healthy people might experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, according to the agency.
In the larger outbreak, 488 cases of salmonella, and 65 hospitalizations, were reported in 34 states, the F.D.A. said. In a statement on Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the F.D.A. declared that mass outbreak to be over.
The statement said that an unidentified grower in Sinaloa, Mexico, that supplies Coast Citrus Distributors was “the likely source” of the outbreak. A Coast Citrus representative could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday
Chipotle Mexican Grill pulled jalapeños from its restaurants in August after being notified of its product’s connection to the Sinaloa grower and to Coast Citrus Distributors.
In August, Taylor Farms also voluntarily recalled products containing jalapeños, like spicy guacamole and pico de gallo.
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