Enlarge FDA Hydrolized vegetable protein, which is used in a very wide array of products, is facing a recall for salmonella. Fifty-six entries are on the FDA recall list, including products from Trader Joe's, Johnny's Fine Foods, Great Value, Follow Your Heart, Oak Lake Farms, Hawaiian, Homemade Gourmet, T. Marzetti and Castella. RECALLED PRODUCTS RECALLED PRODUCTS More than 50 food products including soups, dips and salad dressings were caught up in a large recall of a flavor-enhancing ingredient possibly contaminated with salmonella this week, including: T. MARZETTI VEGGIE DIPS DETAILS: T. Marzetti Co. of Columbus, Ohio , is recalling select flavors and production codes of T. Marzetti veggie dips, Oak Lake chip dips and Great Value chip dips. The recalled dips were sold in various parts of the United States, depending on the brand and flavor. Some were also sold in Canada. WHY: The dips are being recalled because they could be contaminated with salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. FOR MORE: Call 800-427-0147; visit http://www.marzetti.com CASTELLA IMPORTS CHICKEN BASE DETAILS: Castella Imports, of Hauppauge, N.Y., is recalling certain lots of Castella chicken base, which is used to make chicken soup. The recalled chicken base was sold in 1-pound jars at retail stores nationwide. WHY: It could be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems. FOR MORE: Call 631-231-5500. TIM'S CASCADE SNACKS DETAILS: Tim's Cascade Snacks, of Algona, Wash., is recalling certain code dates of two products: Hawaiian Kettle Style Potato Chips in Sweet Maui Onion flavor as well as Hawaiian Sweet Maui Onion Rings. They were distributed nationwide and in Canada through retail stores, distributors, direct delivery and Internet sales. They were sold as individual bags and as components of packs, including variety packs. WHY: They could be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems. FOR MORE: Call 888-299-7646. HOMEMEAD GOURMET TORTILLA SOUP MIX DETAILS: Homemade Gourmet, of Canton, Texas, is recalling 1.96-ounce tortilla soup mix sold nationwide through mail order and independent consultant sales. All known buyers of the soup have been contacted about the recall. WHY: It could be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems. HOW MANY: About 320 packages FOR MORE: Call 888-477-2848. RESER'S FINE FOODS CHIP DIPS, DRESSING, POTATO SALAD DETAILS: Reser's Fine Foods Inc., of Beaverton, Ore., is recalling certain chip dips, dressing and potato salad products sold to distributors and retailers nationwide, including Wal-Mart and Safeway . WHY: They might be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems. FOR MORE: Call 888-230-0062. EARTH ISLAND FOLLOW YOUR HEART PRODUCTS DETAILS: Earth Island, of Chatsworth, Calif., is recalling certain Follow Your Heart brand products. The recall includes Follow Your Heart salad dressings sold in grocery and health food stores nationwide, and Follow Your Heart deli products sold at grocery and health food stores in the Southern California region. WHY: They might be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems. FOR MORE: Call 818-725-2820. CULINARY CIRCLE, ALBERTSONS, JEWELL DIPS DETAILS: Supervalu Inc. has recalled several dips produced by Orval Kent. The Culinary Circle brand pesto ranch, cucumber dill and spinach dip were made by Orval Kent, a food manufacturer out of Wheeling, Ill., and sold in Supervalu's stores nationwide. The recall also includes Albertsons brand spinach dip sold only in California and Nevada and Jewel brand spinach dip sold only in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. WHY: They contain an ingredient from Basic Food Flavors Inc. in Las Vegas, which is recalling its products due to possible salmonella contamination. Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. FOR MORE: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/HVPCP *No illnesses or injuries have been reported for any of these products An unfolding recall of products containing a commonly used food-flavoring ingredient because of potential contamination with salmonella could ripple through the entire food industry, experts said. The risk to consumers probably is low, but the recall could encompass a large number of products, Jeffrey Farrar, Food and Drug Administration associate commissioner for food protection, said in a briefing Thursday. "We do suspect the amount of products is going to increase over the next several days or weeks." An FDA statement says the affected products include soups, sauces, chilis, stews, hot dogs, gravies, seasoned snack foods, dips and dressings. The FDA has posted a list of recalled foods at foodsafety.gov. ON THE WEB: List of 56 recalled products from FDA.gov FOOD SAFETY: USDA vet says unsafe slaughterhouse practices weren't reported IN USA: Food-borne illnesses cost $152B a year The flavoring is hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP, made by a small number of companies. The HVP involved in the recall was made by Basic Food Flavors of North Las Vegas, Nev. "It's widely used. It's a fairly inexpensive flavor enhancer," said Don Schaffner, a professor of microbiology and food safety expert at Rutgers University. He has been consulting with companies all week about how to deal with the recall. The recall would be much wider were it not for the fact that many products containing HVP are cooked before being sold. Under FDA's safety guidelines, companies that used the product but can document a valid "kill step" won't need to recall their foods. Though Basic Food's HVP was probably used in 10,000 products, many will be covered by the kill step, so "we don't know what percentage ... will be involved in the recall," Farrar said. Tests show that the HVP was contaminated with the salmonella tennessee bacteria, which can cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. It can cause sometimes-deadly infections, especially in children, seniors and people with weakened immune systems. The recall covers foods manufactured since Sept. 17, 2009; no illnesses have been linked to the strain found in the products, Farrar said. HVP, made from proteins in grains or soybeans, adds a meaty, savory taste to foods. It's chemically similar to monosodium glutamate. Earth Island, a Chatsworth, Calif., company that is recalling ranch dressing and vegetarian entrees, required letters of guarantee verifying that the HVP it was buying was safe as well as certificates of analysis showing that periodic biological testing of the product had been done, quality assurance manager Sheena Bliss said. The recall is a huge expense for her company. "Even though we did everything that we could to make our products as safe as possible, obviously the supplier wasn't," she said. Calls to Basic Food for comment were not immediately returned. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more