Serrano chile peppers add delicious spiciness to your meals, but do you know what is not a delicious fresh ingredient? Salmonella. Random testing turned up signs of the pathogen in a batch of peppers sold in Meijer stores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Peppers in that batch may have also ended up at other retailers, including Publix, Walmart, and Harris Teeter.

Meijer has confirmed that it received peppers from the batch that may be contaminated, and there are other stores and distributors that may have. For now, the Food and Drug Administration says to maybe check with the retailer if you’ve bought any serrano chile peppers since October 2 and October 21.

Salmonella is not a fun illness. Sometimes people who are healthy show no symptoms when infected, but when they do, those symptoms can include fever, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Children, the elderly, and people who are immunocompromised can become even more ill, leading to hospitalization or death.

These peppers originated with Bailey Farms of North Carolina. If you have questions about the recall, you can contact them at 1-888-820-2545.

Bailey Farms Inc. Recalls Fresh Serrano Chile Peppers Because Of Possible Health Risk [FDA]

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