Jalapenos investigated as source of salmonella
Contaminated pepper found at Texas facility
WASHINGTON – Federal officials investigating a three-month-old salmonella outbreak have isolated the bacteria in a jalapeno pepper from a small distribution facility in McAllen, Texas, and Monday warned consumers nationwide to avoid eating raw jalapenos or products that contain them until more is known.
Investigators found the contaminated jalapeno at Agricola Zaragosa in McAllen, after tracing jalapenos eaten by restaurant patrons who got sick. The company has stopped distributing jalapeno peppers and is recalling jalapenos sold since June 30 to customers in Georgia and Texas. The tainted pepper was grown in Mexico, but investigators don’t know where the contamination occurred.
“All we know is a pepper in this facility is positive with this strain. We don’t know if it became contaminated in this distribution facility or at some point leading up to this facility,” said David Acheson, a top official with the Food and Drug Administration.
None of the other samples taken at the facility tested positive for the outbreak strain Salmonella saintpaul. And officials said the finding has not cleared the initial suspect – raw tomatoes – as a cause.
The finding is a major break in what has been described as one of the most difficult and complicated outbreak probes in recent memory. Although it doesn’t answer all the questions investigators may have, it increases the possibility that they can find the original source and should help them move more quickly, making their efforts more focused.
As of Monday, the outbreak had sickened 1,251 people in the United States and Canada.
New Mexico officials first identified the outbreak in May and, based on interviews with people who got sick, identified certain types of fresh tomatoes as the likely cause.
On July 7, the FDA warned consumers to avoid tomatoes, triggering an estimated $100 million in losses for the tomato industry. After people continued to get sick, investigators began looking at cilantro, jalapeno and serrano peppers as potential carriers.
On Thursday, federal officials declared all tomatoes on the market safe to eat but refused to clear them as a possible cause. They said both tomatoes and peppers could have spread the bacteria.
CDC officials hope another set of interviews with people who got sick since June 1 in Arizona and New Mexico will reveal whether “there was something about the way jalapenos were used in people’s homes or in restaurants that just failed to get reported,” said Robert Tauxe, a CDC deputy director.