India, Sept. 18 -- The US Food and Drug Administration has escalated a nationwide recall involving thousands of cases of liquid hand soap manufactured by St. Louis-based Intercon Chemical Company, elevating the action to a Class II risk level over concerns of severe bacterial contamination.

The widespread recall affects nearly two thousand and seven hundred cases of soap distributed across fifteen states, including commercial dispensers and popular consumer lines such as the Laura Lynn brand sold at Ingles Markets.

US federal health officials warned that the identified bacterial strains could trigger dangerous infections, prompting an urgent directive for consumers and businesses to immediately discard the affected batches to prevent fu...