An outbreak of salmonella illnesses in three states is linked to tahini imported from Palestine, health officials say.

A manufacturer and blending facility of liquid and dry sweetener products, located in upstate New York, was faced with mounting costs and downtime, linked to pump failures in its liquefier unit. The facility’s technicians narrowed the problem to its batch-run sucrose blending circulation pump, critical to liquefying white and brown sugar, organic and kosher products, fructose, maltitol, corn syrup and invert syrups.