Salmonella Outbreak Culprit - Jalapeños not Tomatoes?

July 21, 2008

The Salmonella saintpaul mystery may be on the way to being solved as today, July 21, 2008 the FDA announced that it has found Salmonella saintpaul with the identical genetic fingerprint as the current outbreak on a jalapeño pepper sample taken at a McAllen, Texas wholesale company. The sample was taken in Agricola Zaragoza's facility, and FDA said the company has begun a recall of all peppers it has shipped.

While the trace-back investigation indicates that the peppers taken from Agricola Zaragoza's facility were grown in Mexico, the FDA has said that it has not yet determined whether the contamination occurred at farm level, in shipping or at the facility where the sample was taken. The FDA is continuing to investigate the supply chain that led to this facility, as well as working to determine where peppers from this facility have already been distributed; it is not, however, considered a major processor.

Due to the uncertainty as to whether any contaminated peppers are still being sold either as fresh produce or as ingredients in other foods like fresh salsa, the FDA is now advising all consumers to:
"Avoid eating raw jalapeño peppers or products containing raw jalapeño peppers."

Thankfully the Salmonella outbreak is diminishing - the latest onset of illness date is still July 4, 2008 - according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's onset of illness graph on its website: www.cdc.gov.

The FDA was careful to reinforce that all tomatoes currently in the marketplace are safe to eat although they have not yet officially cleared tomatoes from ever causing the illness. For the latest info visit the United Fresh dedicated outbreak webpage www.unitedfresh.org.

NOTE: This is different from a recall initiated this weekend by Grande Produce of Hidalgo, Texas due to Salmonella found on certain products. That Salmonella was not of the same strain as the outbreak.

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