Misprint in cookbook puts publishers in soup

 It's a tiny misprint, but an Australian publisher has had to pulp a cookbook after one recipe called for "salt and freshly ground black people" to be added to the dish.

Penguin Group Australia pulped and reprinted about 7,000 copies of "Pasta Bible" after the typographical error was found in the ingredients for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto, The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday.

"We're mortified that this has become an issue of any kind, and why anyone would be offended, we don't know," head of publishing Bob Sessions was quoted as saying.

Penguin said almost every one of the more than 150 recipes in the book called for salt and freshly ground black pepper but a misprint occurred on just one page, probably as a result of a computer's spellchecker program.

"When it comes to the proofreader, of course they should have picked it up, but proofreading a cookbook is an extremely difficult task. I find that quite forgivable," Sessions said.

He said it would be extremely hard to recall the stock but if anyone complained about the "silly mistake" they would be given the new version.

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