Since Thursday, three different companies producing three different food products have issued recalls due to the potential of Salmonella contamination.

The recalls include such diverse food products as crushed red pepper, pecan bits and powdered au jus.

First on Thursday, Wholesome Spice of Brooklyn, N.Y., 25 lb. boxes of Crushed Red Pepper that was sold between 4/6/09 and 1/20/10. This product was only sold wholesale to areas of the Northeast.

The Crushed Red Pepper product is packaged in a clear plastic bag which is placed inside of a cardboard box with an adhesive white label with a blue border and blue and black lettering. The brand name on the product labels is WHOLESOME SPICES. The product name is listed as CRUSHED RED PEPPER.

On Friday, there were two recalls. Johnny’s Fine Foods of Tacoma, Washington, is recalling French Dip Powdered Au Jus in 6oz bottles and French Dip Powdered Au Jus in 1.1oz foil packets.

One of the ingredients, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, manufactured by a different company was previously recalled for possible Salmonella contamination.

Johnny’s French Dip Powdered Au Jus 6oz is packaged in a clear plastic bottle with a red, white and blue label. The expiration date for this product is 0332. Johnny’s French Dip Powdered Au Jus 1.1oz is packaged in a red, white and blue foil packet. The expiration date for this product is 02212.

This product was distributed nationwide.

And lastly on Friday, American Pecan Company of Yancey, Texas is recalling 1 lb. bags of Pecan Pieces in all piece sizes. This product was sold to walk-up customers at their Yancey, Texas location, as well as to mail order customers in Texas, New York, and Massachusetts.

FDA lab sampling of the pecans showed the presence of the salmonella bacteria.

Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.