The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agency has recently announced a recall of numerous food products, due to possible salmonella contamination in a widely used flavor enhancer – hydrolyzed vegetable protein or HVP as it’s also known.

HVP – a relative of MSG – enhances the savory flavors in many processed foods, such as hot dogs, soups, stews, chili, salad dressings, dips and other snack foods. It is uncertain at this moment in time, how big the recall will actually get.

Jeff Farrar, FDA associate commissioner for food protection spoke about the recall at a press conference on Thursday, saying that they don’t know how large the recall will be, but said they are expecting it get bigger over the next few days to weeks.

According to a report at abcnews.go.com, the contamination was actually detected several weeks ago in HVP produced by Basic Food Flavors Inc. of Las Vegas. It was then made known to the FDA, through the newly-instituted Reportable Food Registry.

The FDA has since confirmed the salmonella contamination at Basic Food Flavors’ plant, and all HVP that has been produced by the facility since September 17th 2009, is subject to the recall. As of late Thursday, nearly 30 products had been recalled.

You can read the full story and information via the link here.