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Forget Tomatoes; Feds Focus on Jalapeños

Salmonella outbreak may be tied to salsa, sleuths suspect

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 28, 2008

Food Safety • Salmonella Outbreak Spreads to 42 States • Feds Seize Rodent-Infested Food at Wisconsin Warehouse • Missouri Company Recalls 14,000 Pounds of Beef Due to E.Coli • California Firm Recalls Beef Products • Feds Seize Millions in 'Unsanitary' Produce From Tennessee Company • Consumer Group Proposes Food Label Makeovers • Beef Recall Produces Call For Plant Closing • Consumer Reports: Most Store-Bought Chicken Contains Harmful Bacteria • FDA Seeks Permanent Injunction Against Sharkco Seafood • Two Companies Pull Meat, Poultry Products Over Health Concerns • Food Safety Group Presses Senate For Action • New Report Recommends Enhanced Food Tracing Guidelines --- • More ...

Hundreds of millions of dollars later, federal health officials say that maybe tomatoes weren't to blame for the odd strain of salmonella that has sickened hundreds of consumers after all.

Stores pulled tomatoes off the shelves, restaurants filled dumpsters with them and shoppers shunned them, all as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they were trying to find the tomatoes that were causing the problem.

But now, the CDC thinks that perhaps it's been something else causing trouble all along, the Wall Street Journal reports. Jalapeño peppers, maybe. Or maybe cilantro and Serrano peppers.

The current theory making the rounds is that salsa prepared in restaurants may be the common thread that ties all the incidents together. After all, salsas is made with tomatoes. And jalapeño peppers. Cilantro too, come to think of it.

The reason the CDC thinks this is that it has been interviewing people who got sick, asking them what they ate and when, and then looking for a common element that might explain the outbreak of the Saintpaul strain of salmonella, a relatively rare and rather virulent version of the disease.

Consumer advocates have been irate for years with the apparently declining state of food safety in the U.S. Now restaurants and tomato growers are angry as well. They've lost millions of dollars and thrown away mountains of what may have been perfectly good produce.

The FDA has been hedging its best for the past few weeks, saying it couldn't be certain tomatoes were the problem. The biggest clue? Although tomatoes had been taken off the table, people were still getting sick.

So now, the prevailing theory is that maybe it's something that is commonly eaten with tomatoes. Salsa, after all, is made with tomatoes and other produce like, oh, jalapeño peppers.

CDC is hedging its bets this time around, saying it is looking at "certain restaurants" but refusing to name them. It's dropping little hints, though, saying it's not looking at chain restaurants.

All of this frustrates restaurateurs no end.

"To blame salsa brings nothing to the table," a Texas Restaurant Association executive told the Journal. "There's all kinds of salsas."

Symptoms of salmonella include bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever.

It can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections particularly in young children, frail or elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy people often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, the organism can get into the bloodstream and produce more severe illnesses.

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