FDA: Salmonella Linked To Irrigation Water

Tainted Water Is "Smoking Gun" In Outbreak That Sickened More Than 1,300, CDC Says

(AP)  The salmonella strain linked to a nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and in a sample from a batch of serrano peppers at a Mexican farm, federal health officials said Wednesday.

Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief, called the finding a key breakthrough in the case, as did another health official.

"We have a smoking gun, it appears," said Dr. Lonnie King, who directs the center for foodborne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Acheson said the farm is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Previously, the FDA had traced a contaminated jalapeno pepper to a farm in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Both farms shipped through a packing facility in Nuevo Leon, raising the possibility that contamination could have occurred there.

The FDA advised consumers to avoid raw serrano peppers from Mexico, in addition to raw jalapeno peppers from Mexico, and any foods that contain them.

In a statement Wednesday, Mexico's Agriculture Department said it "rejects" the FDA's conclusion that the source of the salmonella outbreak had been located in the Mexican farm's irrigation water.

"The farm unit in question ended its harvest more than a month ago, so the sample they say they have lacks scientific validity" because the sample "was taken recently from a tank holding rain water that was not used in production," the statement said.

"The government reiterates its call for the FDA to use information responsibly and, above all, to base it on scientific evidence," the statement concluded.

Acheson and other officials were grilled at a congressional hearing about why the investigation originally focused on tomatoes. Industry representatives complained that they have lost more than $300 million and had to dump tons of perfectly good tomatoes they could not sell because of government warnings. The probe was slowed even more because FDA investigators were unfamiliar with the workings of the tomato industry and were reluctant to share information, they said.

"For weeks and weeks, investigators were on the trail of the wrong product," Thomas Stenzel, president of the United Fresh Produce Assn., told the House Agriculture Committee.

But federal officials insisted that tomatoes still cannot be ruled out and that it is quite possible the outbreak was caused by several different kinds of contaminated produce.

"I don't think we can say that (tomatoes) were needlessly dumped," Acheson told reporters after the hearing. "The early part of the investigation clearly implicated tomatoes."

The outbreak has sickened more than 1,300 people since April.

Tomatoes had been the prime suspect in the nationwide outbreak for weeks. But last week, the FDA said only jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico were currently implicated in the nationwide salmonella outbreak. The FDA said then it had found the same strain of salmonella responsible for the outbreak on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno in a south Texas produce warehouse. The agency explained that any contaminated tomatoes would be out of the food supply chain by now.

For now, the focus of the investigation is on the two farms in Mexico, which Acheson said are quite far from each other.

The Tamaulipas farm also grew tomatoes and peppers, said Acheson. But the tainted pepper traced to that farm was found at a warehouse facility in McAllen, Texas, raising the possibility it could have been contaminated along the way. Acheson said samples have been taken from the Tamaulipas farm, and lab results are pending.

The Nuevo Leon farm did not grow tomatoes.

Lawmakers are considering a range of reforms to prevent future outbreaks and speed their investigation. These include improving communication between investigators and the industry, imposing standards for good agricultural practices and improving traceability.

"You could describe our current food safety system as 'outbreak roulette,"' said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., chairman of the subcommittee holding the hearing. "One spin of the outbreak wheel, and your industry may be bankrupt, your loved ones sickened."

[soloman6]

I bet the illegals serving food at the local restaurants has no proof that they don''t have hepatitis A checked up

[pensacola88]

I don''t accept the FDA''s claim that they have the smoking gun. They have acted with prejudice and are not objective. It is clear that endeavors to provide perfect food are not practical when testing happens far after the production fruit has been harvested. There are far too many points of contamination when the fruit is tested at the market, as opposed to the production farm or orchard.

If there was ever a waste of taxpayer''s money, it is the FDA. They have far too much authority in our lives and control too much access to food and medicine. They already prevent cheaper foreign medicines from reaching our hands. Now, they want to prevent cheaper foreign foods from reaching us, too. The FDA is too influenced by political lobbyists.

[randynason]

This salmonella irrigation water must be run-off from the Crawford Ranch, I''ll bet ''cha.

[joan1v]

Why are Ameicans buying and eating food from 3rd world countries? I will support my local farmer''s market or road side stands. I will can AmericA food for the winter. I will NOT BUY any goods from CHINA, MEXICO, INDIA OR ANY OTHER FOREIGN COUNTRY. It is hard to find but you can BUY JUST AMERICAN.

[toolmangler-2009]

Mexico is gonna get payback for the ''Louisiana purchase'' one way or the other, they still think it''s theirs. Since salmonella is transmitted in fecal matter, it''s a shi''tty situation any way you cut it.

[pollroller1]

I think there is a tomato hiding behind the wood shed LOL

[newview08]

It%u2019s just one more reason to avoid %u201Ccasual dining%u201D any more. Besides high prices, poor service, poor quality food, un-healthy, dirty, and some tattooed loser with a nose ring and a belly full of political mumbo-jumbo after the fact expecting a tip.

[walrus306]

one serrano pepper...ONE...not a field of them...ONE...serranos are NOT used in most salsas eaten by non-hispanics...yet most of the cases of infection are non-hispanics that have never eaten anything with a serrano in it.....something ain''t right here...sounds like someone "dropped" a serrano in that field.

[walrus306]

Further proof that nothing good comes from mexico.

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Posted by VastR-WCon at 05:32 PM : Jul 30, 2008

Give that Man Another KKK Patch for his great insight and a pat on the back! He is a great cadidate for The Next Grand Duke of the NEW KKK (border division)

[vastr-wcon]

.
Further proof that nothing good comes from mexico.

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[johnstossel]

They say don''t drink the water in Mexico, but they water our vegetables with it! Go figure.