If you thought spices are safe automatically because they are....well, not the main ingredients in food dishes, you might have to rethink. There has been trouble recently with some spices imported from India and Vietnam.

Officials in San Mateo County, Calif., say more than 86 area markets and restaurants have destroyed certain Asian spices linked to a salmonella scare.

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The salmonella cases all involved individuals who had eaten at Asian restaurants in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada that used the pepper products.

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How the salmonella bacteria came to be in the spices remains a mystery, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has matched the strain in question to a strain found in products made in India and Vietnam, the Times said.

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April 17, 2009