Windsor Foods Inc. on Monday began recalling about 1.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef taquitos and chicken quesadillas that may be contaminated with salmonella from a food flavoring produced in Las Vegas.

The taquito and quesadilla products contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein, a flavor enhancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recalled HVP from the Las Vegas company Basic Food Flavors Inc. Basic Food Flavors produces HVP “for use by dozens of food manufacturers in thousands of products,” Windsor Foods Senior Vice President Lynn Hall said in a statement.

“Although Windsor Foods does not directly contract with Basic Food Flavors, their company does supply two of our spice blend suppliers,” Ms. Hall added in the statement. “As such, we have determined the Basic Food Flavors recall affects 12 items we produced during a limited time period.”

The Windsor recall includes 11 items from the Lampasas plant and one from the company’s Oakland, Miss., plant.

Operations in Lampasas have not been interrupted by the Basic Food Flavors recall, Ms. Hall said in an e-mail. Windsor — ranked within the last year as US Foodservice Top Vendor of the Year — is producing “replenishment product for several of the previously recalled items,” Ms. Hall said. The 11 items recalled from the Lampasas plant account for less than 15 percent of the facility’s total production, the senior vice president said.

In compliance with United States Department of Agriculture guidelines, Windsor on Monday notified the company’s direct shipping customers of the recall of certain Mexican food items, Ms. Hall said.

“As such, we notified our affected food service distributors, who in turn notified their affected restaurants, if any, and other operators they supply,” Ms. Hall said. “In general terms, the 12 items we recalled for the limited affected time period primarily affected retail customers.”

The FDA recall of HVP began after a Basic Food Flavors customer identified Salmonella Tennessee in one HVP production lot. The customer reported the finding to the new FDA Reportable Food Registry, and a subsequent investigation con-

firmed the presence of salmonella in Basic Food Flavors’ processing equipment.

The taquito and quesadilla recall began when officials determined that HVP was added after salmonella prevention steps were applied, according to press release from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The HVP recall applies only to products made by Basic Food Flavors. No known illnesses have been associated with the salmonella contamination in the flavoring, according to an FDA press release

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, according to an FDA press release. Healthy people infected with salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Most healthy people recover from salmonella infections within four to seven days without treatment.

In rare circumstances, salmonella infections can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses, such as infected aneurysms, infection of the lining of the heart and arthritis.

Food safety officials advise consumers to follow cooking instructions for all foods and to report symptoms of salmonella or other food-related illness to health care professionals.

A full list of products Windsor is recalling is available at www. fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/ Recall_017_2010_Release/ index.asp.