Salmonella in greens powder again — dried does not mean sterile

The FDA notified a company after a sample of its organic supergreens mix tested positive for salmonella, and nine products distributed nationwide were pulled — supergreens powder mix, moringa leaf powder, kale powder and wheatgrass powder lines among them. The source of the contamination has not been identified, and the company suspended production and distribution while the investigation continues.

It is not the first time. Only months earlier, another recall covered greens products containing imported moringa leaf powder from India after it sparked a salmonella outbreak. Hundreds of people across the country became sick and 36 were hospitalised.

Why dried greens, of all things?

Most people associate salmonella with raw poultry and eggs, but food safety experts say finding it in dried greens is not surprising. The most likely scenario is that salmonella was already on the raw plants used to make the powder. Contaminated irrigation water, animals interacting with the plants, and improperly treated manure used as fertiliser are the usual routes.

Contamination can also enter later, through contaminated equipment or poor employee hygiene during growing, harvesting, processing or packaging. And here is the part that matters most: once contamination occurs, dehydration may not eliminate the bacteria unless a validated kill step is used.

Do bacteria not need moisture?

Many people assume so, and it is not true. Salmonella persists in dry conditions for extended periods — which is exactly why outbreaks linked to dry products keep appearing. It is also invisible and odourless: a product can look perfectly stable and shelf-safe with bacteria inside it.

Salmonella causes about 1.35 million infections a year in the US alone, making it a major source of food-borne illness. Most people get watery diarrhoea and stomach cramps, sometimes with nausea, headache and vomiting. In severe cases it spreads beyond the intestines to infect the blood, brain and spinal cord, bone and joints. In a small share of cases people develop joint pain afterwards, known as reactive arthritis.

What should you actually do?

Experts are clear that not every product in this category is a problem — many were never implicated in the recent outbreaks. Two practical steps: buy supplements only from trusted suppliers, and keep an eye on recall notices so you know whether something you are using has appeared on a list.

For a product already in your cupboard there is no middle option. There is no home treatment that will reliably make a contaminated powdered supplement safe after purchase. If it is recalled over salmonella, discarding or returning it is the safe choice.

How this relates to your strength score

Weigh the risk against the return and the conclusion is simple. Greens powders are a category with weak evidence for replacing actual vegetables, while these recalls show the process risk is real. Supplements with solid evidence behind them, like creatine and protein, can at least be filtered by third-party certification. Either way the principle holds: supplements do not build your Big 3. Three months of logged training moves those numbers more than any powder does, at a fraction of the risk.

On reading third-party certification marks, see how to choose creatine.