Salmonella cases traced to peppers grown in Mexico
Outbreak had left 1,300 ill in the US
WASHINGTON - The outbreak of salmonella poisoning that made more than 1,300 people ill across the country and cost American tomato growers more than $300 million has been traced to peppers grown on a farm in Mexico, federal officials said yesterday.
"Now we have a smoking gun, it appears," said Lonnie King, who directs investigations of food-borne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
David Acheson, the head of food safety at the Food and Drug Administration, said the strain of Salmonella saintpaul that caused the nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and serrano peppers on a Mexican farm. Earlier, a contaminated jalapeno pepper had been traced to the Mexican grower.
Consumers should not eat jalapeno and serrano peppers imported from Mexico, Acheson told the Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee.
Members questioned Acheson and King sharply about why it has taken since May to track down the source of the food poisoning and whether they were mistaken all along in associating the illness with tomatoes.
The warning from the federal agencies led to a mass removal of tomatoes from grocery market bins and restaurant menus and cost the industry more than $300 million, said Representative Dennis Cardoza, Democrat of California, the chairman of the subcommittee. He asked Acheson whether a single contaminated tomato was ever found.
Acheson conceded that no contaminated tomatoes were found, but he refused to completely clear tomatoes.
He said tomatoes as well as jalapeno and serrano peppers were grown on the Mexican farm that had contaminated irrigation water and tomatoes were processed through the same packing center in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. So it is "plausible" that some of the illnesses were caused by contaminated tomatoes, he said.
King said the CDC's first series of interviews "indicated raw tomatoes were the most commonly consumed food item - reported by 84 percent of ill persons - leading to the hypothesis that they were a possible source of the illnesses."
On July 21, however, a genetic match with the Salmonella saintpaul was found in a jalapeno pepper. And now another type of pepper has been implicated. But the officials still wouldn't acknowledge that their agencies had been wrong on tomatoes.
"It appears likely that more than one food vehicle is involved," King said. "The outbreak appears to be ongoing, but with fewer new illnesses each day."
Representative Tim Mahoney, Democrat of Florida, told the officials that tomato growers in Florida had lost $47 million because the federal warning. "You understand that crop insurance doesn't cover this," he said.
"This incident demonstrated that our governing food safety authorities are outdated and must be reformed," said Representative Adam Putnam, Republican of Florida. He said the agencies are not protecting consumers and hurting growers with their blanket warnings and slow "trace backs."
