Salmonella Linked To Jalapenos

(CBS/AP)  Nearly fifteen weeks after the first salmonella case was reported, investigators found their first infected plant -- not a tomato -- but a jalapeno pepper. And as CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports, this is just the kind of break investigators were hoping for.

"While this one sample doesn't yet give us the whole story, this genetic match is a very important break in the case because it enables us to focus our investigation on the production chain that will ultimately allow us hopefully to pinpoint the source of the contamination which has caused the outbreak," said Dr. David Acheson Associate Commissioner of the FDA.

The pepper in question came from Mexico, but the FDA says the contamination could have come from anywhere, such as infected soil, water, packing boxes or even contact with other produce in Mexico or the U.S., Cordes reports.

Monday's discovery doesn't solve the mystery: Authorities don't know where the pepper became tainted - on the farm, in the plant in McAllen, Texas, or at some stop in between.

Nor are they saying the tainted pepper exonerates tomatoes sold earlier in the spring that consumers until last week had been told were the prime suspect.

Still, "this genetic match is a very important break in the case," said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief.

For now, the government is advising consumers to continue avoiding any fresh jalapenos, or products made with them, such as fresh salsa. Tomatoes now on the market are considered safe to eat, health officials have said since last week.

The Texas plant, Agricola Zaragosa, has agreed to recall its fresh jalapenos, although the FDA wouldn't say how widely its produce was distributed. It is not considered a major processor, and it's unclear how far into the United States peppers traveling through this small stop near the Mexican border would have traveled, something the FDA still is working to determine.

It's also not clear if the produce distributor ever handled tomatoes. No other produce currently in the plant has tested positive for salmonella, Acheson said.

"I recognize there is a need to narrow this as soon as possible," Acheson added - as parts of the country are entering prime hot pepper season.

A person who answered the phone at Agricola Zaragosa said no one was available to comment immediately.

With 1,251 confirmed cases in 43 states - and a few among Canadian travelers to the U.S. - the outbreak isn't over yet, said Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the CDC said last week that it appeared to be slowing, and indeed has confirmed just 14 additional cases since then. The latest that someone fell ill was July 4.

[my2centss]

"I always laugh when I read stupid stuff like..."
Posted by toldyouso12 at 12:36 AM : Jul 22, 2008

Maybe one day we can all be as smart as you.

[dannyatlanta]

What I want to know is why nobody is looking with scrutiny at either American Airlines or DFW Airport. If you look at the map of where the outbreak is most prevalent, it looks eerily similar to the flight route maps of American Airlines hub cities.

[cosmicfluke]

This is the meat industry''s fault, but you won''t hear any mention of that in these articles that appear a half dozen/dozen times a year.
Salmonella and e.Coli are animal diseases, how do you think they get on veggies?
All that poo is illegal to dump, but you can spray it on veggies, without even having to boil it to kill off these bacteria and viruses....but no, that''s asking too much of the meat industries, cuts too deeply into their profits, they''d rather lose a few old people and babies a year than do with less profits.

Eat Shiat and Die, Amerika!

[xmanborg]

Posted by green254 at 08:21 AM : Jul 22, 2008

Go post your Dating stuff on Craigs List and get lost.

[oneworldusa]

We just all need to grow our own gardens to the extent we can. Put illegals out of work. Make our food safer.

[toldyouso12]

Burns twice.

So is it in the pepper, or on the pepper? Can you wash it off, or is it part of the genetic make up?

Posted by my2centss at 09:21 PM : Jul 21, 2008


I always laugh when I read stupid stuff like "washing off veggies to prevent or get rid of bacteria" Bacteria are living things, they MOVE. They invade. There is no living organism that just SITS on top of fruit or veggies waiting to be washed off. Of course being very small, they can easily enter any fruit or veggie and then you. "Washing off" was just propaganda thrown in by the USDA to make Americans feel like they were doing something. but THINK--if "washing yourself" cannot prevent or cure an infection...then it can''t be "washed off" any other living item that bacteria or viruses invade. It''s not likely microbes just sit on veggies just to watch the view...LMAO

[toldyouso12]

Why dont we just eat US grown tomatoes if they cant keep them free of bacteria?

Posted by onlythereal at 05:54 PM : Jul 21, 2008


Since this disease is spread by failed hygiene and since most farmers hire illegals to pick their crops here in the USA--just what would growing the veggies in the US accomplish? Sooner or later, it all comes back to--we are harboring criminals who sneak in--and THEY (who are not screened or checked or vetted from parasites, diseases or criminal history--will bring their illnesses with them. It is no accident that the level of flesh eating bacteria, strange parasites, bacteria immune to antibiotics and leprosy among other diseases usually found in 3rd world countries, are now pretty common in Texas and other South Western States--as disease ALWAYS parallels the unmitigated migration of humans. Because every where people go--they carry their vermin and sickness with them.

It will do NO GOOD to grow veggies in the states if farmers still hire people with nasty hygiene. It only takes one to carry, and from there--it spreads..then it takes just others to pass it along.

[toldyouso12]

Not sure how that gets you sick, seems like the little suckers would get beat by the pepper oil and vitamin C.

Posted by eddom949 at 05:13 PM : Jul 21, 2008


LOL. Get your info on bacteria right: There are bacteria that can THRIVE on vitamins, live in temperatures of over 2000 degrees Farenheit, and no doubt, love pepper oil. there is no known environment that some form of microbe, fungi or other living "germ" cannot thrive in or adapt to--at least not yet.

[toldyouso12]

How silly. People are not thinking. Just as there was a "Typhoid Mary", there may well be a "Salmonella Maria"/

It is no accident that the disease appears to disseminate from the Southwest, first in tomatoes, then in Jalapenos. Maybe the light will somehow come on in inspectors'' heads when the next foods to show the "DNA fingerprint" are onions, lettuce, cheese and finally tortilla shells.

Not so much beef or chicken this time as at least they get cooked and so kill the bacteria. Odds are some worker or group of workers harbor the bacteria as natural flora from their homeland and don''t do a good job of wiping either their hands or their butts after they take a dump. That''s one of the downfalls of promoting global insourcing or using illegals--they come for the jobs--and they work for low wages--but no man is an island--they come bearing "little gifts"
and some of their particular "gifts" may sicken or kill those of us they may serve.

Another loophole--we "keep the 18 to 36 million illegals and growing" for the benefit of the American businesses (and lazy homeowners)--and we inherit their vermin and diseases too. Too bad those affected are not limited to those who promote this kind of interaction.

[aldon61]

First it was tomatoes,then Jalapenos, onions, and celantro, it appears obvious that whoever is behind this scare tactic is trying to assault the tex-mex cuisinne. Don''t pay any attention to this.