Recall won't impact Litehouse

SANDPOINT — A national salad dressing recall will not affect Litehouse, because the Sandpoint dressing, dip and sauce maker does not purchase from the company whose ingredient is targeted by the Food and Drug Administration.

The recall announced last week stems from a potentially contaminated ingredient called hydrolyzed vegetable protein that is sold by Basic Food Flavors, Inc.

The Las Vegas company produces corn, soy and wheat products used by manufacturers nationwide in their gravies, dressings and mixes.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Basic Food’s hydrolyzed vegetable protein could be contaminated with salmonella, a bacteria that can cause fatal infections in young children, the elderly and anyone with weakened immune systems.

But the salad dressing recall that has retailers and consumers across the country taking stock, won’t slow down the local condiment maker, a Litehouse spokesperson said.

“We don’t purchase from them,” Paul Kusche, director of marketing and innovations at Litehouse said. “Therefore it’s not an industry-wide issue, it’s just a single-supplier issue.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s notice includes not just salad dressings, but a variety of products including potato chips, spinach dips and seasoning mixes.

Scott Day, manager at Yoke’s in Sandpoint said his employees recently took all products named in the recall off the shelf after receiving notice.

Having a large mix of products associated with a contaminated ingredient is not unusual, Day said.

“Usually, when you have a product like this, it affects a huge variety of things,” Day said.

Reser’s dressings and dips, Tim’s Cascade Hawaiian kettle style potato chips and Concord Foods vegetable dip seasoning mixes were among products removed from shelves across the Panhandle because they contained the hydrolyzed vegetable protein from the Las Vegas company.

A recall on peanuts a few years ago spread a net over a plethora of products, Day said.

“You found out how peanuts were in so many different products,” he said. “It was just amazing.”

Recall notices by Tim’s, Concord Foods and Reser’s ask consumers to return products to the stores where they were purchased if they think they are part of the recall.

No illnesses have been associated with the recall, according to Concord Foods.

For more information on the recalls visit http://www.fda.gov/.