Company behind salmonella scandal denies wrongdoing

The company responsible for the food ingredient at the centre of a salmonella contamination recall affecting thousands of convenience foods in the US has said it did nothing wrong.

Basic Food Flavors, which makes a hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) contained in many soups, dips and dressings, spoke publically on Wednesday (March 17th) for the first time since news of the outbreak surfaced.

The company gave FoodNavigatorUSA.com a statement denying that it knew the product had been contaminated with salmonella before it was shipped.

Sales and marketing manager David Wood said the firm first learned of the report filed by one of its customers on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Reportable Food Registry on February 5th, apparently from a lot produced on September 17th.

Mr Wood added that tests had revealed 10,000 pounds of 10 million HVP produced was contaminated.

The recall is reported to have affected more than 100 products, however, Bloomberg News claims widespread use of the flavouring means the number could top 10,000 products.

Posted by Philippa Atkins