Consumers from the states of California, Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana, South Carolina and Missouri who may have bought the herb cilantro produced by California-based food provider Pacific International from Nov. 16 to Dec. 10 are advised to return or dispose the product as these are suspected to be contaminated of the bacteria salmonella.

Pacific International will recall thousands of cartons of the suspected herb cilantro after the U. S. Food and Drug Administration said it had detected traces of salmonella in their product samples. The cilantro in question was grown by Salt River Farming just outside Phoenix, Arizona.

Pacific says that bunches of the potentially-contaminated herb, which is known as coriander in other parts of the world, have the name "Pacific" on the twist tie and carry the UPC code 33383 80104.

According to the World Health Organization, salmonella is a genus of bacteria that are a major cause of foodborne illness throughout the world and which is generally transmitted to humans through consumption of contaminated food.

Pacific International announced it will voluntarily recall around 6,141 cartons even if there are no reports yet of any ill effect of the herb.

Salmonella is genus name of the rod-shaped enteric bacteria most commonly associated with food poisoning and it is closely related to the genus Escherichia, whose most well-known representative is E. coli is another common food-borne pathogen.

The WHO said symptoms of Salmonella infection usually appear 12-72 hours after infection, and these include fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and sometimes vomiting.

The illness usually lasts 4-7 days, and most people recover without treatment. However, in the very young and the elderly, and in cases when the bacteria enter the bloodstream, antibiotherapy may be needed.

Researchers are still working to identify the source of the contamination, the company said.