(CNN) -- You may inadvertently be getting more than you bargained for when you put paprika in your chicken paprikash. A new Food and Drug Administration report, "Pathogens and Filth in Spices," says that 12% of U.S. spice imports are contaminated with bug parts, rodent hairs and other ingredients more appropriate to a witches' brew than your mother's favorite recipe. The FDA study also found that 7% of spice imports the inspectors examined were contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella are toxic bacteria that can trigger diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. The amount of "filth" the FDA found in imported spice was twice that found in other kinds of imported food. The report characterized this as a "systemic challenge."
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Twice as much contamination found in imported spices as other imports
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"Pathogens and Filth in Spices" also found salmonella in 7% of spices tested
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Contaminated spices have caused "relatively small" outbreaks of illness, FDA says
Spice can come to the @placeholder cleaned and bottled in another country, or in big sacks and containers that then go to a commercial facility, Deem said.