France and Belgium Recall Ground Coriander and Curry and Tandoori Blends Over Salmonella, With 21 Spice Batches From the Same Company

The French portal RappelConso published on October 15, 2026 the voluntary recall, throughout France, of several spices from the same company following the detection of Salmonella. The notice highlights five consumer products, 35-gram curry, madras curry and tandoori blends and ground coriander in 30-gram packs and in a 500-gram bag, but the attached list covers 21 batches. The following day a second notice was published for a 35-gram tandoori blend under the own brand of an organic store chain, and on October 23 Belgium's AFSCA reported that the same chain, in agreement with the agency, is withdrawing that product in the country and recalling it from consumers due to the possible presence of Salmonella.

The list includes ground coriander in 30 grams, in 100- and 500-gram bags and in a 5-kilo format; curry and madras curry in 35 and 500 grams and 5 kilos; tandoori in 35 grams, and chili, colombo and Italian blends in 28 and 500 grams, with best-before dates from July 2028 to July 2029. The tandoori blend in the second notice corresponds to batch P173767, with a best-before date of August 30, 2028, and was sold between September 23 and October 12. The products reached 15 distributors, mainly organic store chains. The notices ask consumers not to eat the spices, to destroy them or return them, and point out that salmonellosis appears between 6 and 72 hours after consumption.

Dried spices are a known vehicle of Salmonella. Low water activity prevents the bacterium from multiplying, but does not eliminate it: it survives for months in the ground product. Contamination usually originates during drying, storage or grinding, and blending spreads it across many products. Coriander is a common ingredient in curry, colombo and tandoori, although the notices do not identify the raw material of origin. These blends are often added to marinades and cold sauces, where cooking does not act as a barrier. In mid-October, Luxembourg and the Netherlands had already issued warnings over possible Salmonella in organic ground coriander; the sources do not indicate whether it is the same origin.

For packers and importers, the case shows how a finding in a shared raw material ends up in some twenty batches recalled in two countries, and the value of testing each consignment before blending it and of validating microbial reduction treatments such as steam. TAAG's Specio 1.1 kit detects Salmonella spp. by real-time PCR with melting curve and its datasheet validates it generically in foods, beverages and surfaces. Spices are not listed as a specific matrix, so the association is indirect, and a presumptive result must be confirmed with the reference method.