Salsa, salads and subs recalled in B.C. due to salmonella risk

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has expanded a salmonella warning about products produced by an American company and associated with onions that had been the focus of a previous warnings and recalls.

On Aug. 1, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control advised people not to eat, use, sell or serve any red, white, yellow and sweet yellow onions from Thomson International Inc. in Bakersfield, Calif., or any products made from those onion. It said 69 B.C. residents had become ill from those products.

On Friday, Aug. 7, the federal agency sent out an expanded list of products containing ingredients from Thomson International. These products were made by Copperside Foods Ltd., Fresh is Best Salsa and Company and Sobeys Capital Inc. and distributed throughout Western Canada.

The recalled products include a number of Fresh is Best salsas, subs, quesadillas and salads. 

Most of the salsas were sold or distributed in British Columbia, but other products targeted by the recall were sold or distributed in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan.

"Retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and food service establishments such as hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, hospitals, and nursing homes should not serve, use, or sell the recalled products," the inspection agency said.

READ MORE: 69 salmonella cases in the province linked to red onions, BC CDC says

Food contaminated with salmonella may not look or smell spoiled but can still make you sick, according to the food inspection agency. Young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems may contract serious and sometimes deadly infections. Healthy people may experience short-term symptoms such as fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Long-term complications may include severe arthritis.

For a full list of the products covered by the recall go to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency here.

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