Saw this and thought about ya. I still have the peppers ya sent me (using some in my ste now)
Jalapeños Probed in Outbreak Tomatoes No Longer Seen As Prime Suspect for Salmonella
By JANE ZHANG and JANET ADAMY July 5, 2008; Page A1
WASHINGTON -- Officials investigating the salmonella outbreak now are looking at jalapeño peppers as a leading suspect for spreading the bacteria that has sickened hundreds across the U.S. over the past three months, according to people familiar with the probe.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially blamed tomatoes. That led to industry losses of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the National Restaurant Association, as consumers cut down on consumption and restaurants pulled them from menus.
But as the disease continued to spread, the investigation turned to other foods commonly eaten with tomatoes, in particular to other ingredients used to make salsa. Besides jalapeño peppers, officials are looking at cilantro and Serrano peppers.
The search for the cause of an outbreak that has affected nearly 1,000 people since April 10 has centered on salsa because many of the victims had eaten some. The government is concentrating on fresh salsa prepared at certain restaurants, not processed and canned salsa. Officials continue to decline to name the restaurants, but say most are not affiliated with chains.
New surveys with patients who only became sick recently, as well as some earlier victims, show that many ate jalapeño peppers along with tomatoes, one official said. Investigators now are looking for jalapeño peppers contaminated with the rare salmonella strain dubbed Saintpaul. They are hunting them in restaurant leftovers and victims' homes, as well as along the distribution chain, this official said.
Health officials said the evidence linking jalapeños to the disease is compelling, but are erring on the side of caution before making a public warning. The mounting illnesses, despite the tomato warning, have left consumers and regulators confused, and the industry struggling with financial losses.
Lola Russell, a CDC spokesperson, would not confirm or deny that jalapeño peppers are a top suspect. "It's still an open investigation and we are still looking for the source," she said Thursday, adding that she can't comment on any specific salsa ingredient.
Glen Nowak, another CDC spokesperson, said tomatoes no longer are the leading suspect, though, he said, "Tomatoes are one of the primary things we are looking at."
The lengthy probe of the outbreak and failure thus far to find the culprit are sowing frustration and even anger among restaurants, produce growers and supermarkets. Officials have acknowledged the slow pace, while facing growing pressure to identify the source of contamination conclusively -- something the Food and Drug Administration has warned may be impossible.
The CDC has said their food detectives settled on tomatoes shortly after the outbreak because a disproportionately high number of victims -- eight in 10 -- ate them. But the number of salmonella cases didn't decline, even after a warning issued by the FDA on June 3 prompted a sharp drop in tomato consumption. The number of reported cases had grown to 922 as of Wednesday, from 40 on June 2.
Earlier in the probe, an FDA team collected 1,700 environmental and tomato samples at Mexican and Florida tomato farms, as well as distribution points such as warehouses and packing facilities. All the samples tested negative.
The CDC then started looking at products commonly consumed with tomatoes. Patricia Griffin, a top CDC official, said in a conference call last month that many victims ate tomatoes in dishes such as salsa and guacamole. Mr. Nowak said Thursday that avocados, the main ingredient in guacamole, are not suspect.
The CDC is focusing on 29 "clusters" of illnesses, Mr. Nowak said. A cluster is created when two or more people become sick within a 10-day period after eating at the same restaurant. Most of the restaurants serve Mexican food, and most of them are not chains, Mr. Nowak said.
While Mexican restaurants use large quantities of tomatoes, so do other types -- Italian and fast-food restaurants, for example. Yet virtually none of those types of restaurants has been associated with a large percentage of illness clusters, the official said. That has led to the focus on salsa -- and in particular on jalapeños, medium-sized chile peppers grown in Mexico and parts of the Southwestern United States.
Earlier laboratory research has shown that salmonella grows rapidly when inoculated onto jalapeno peppers. According to a 2003 paper by a team of Texas A&M University researchers, salmonella grew faster on extracts of jalapeño peppers than those of tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli and bell peppers. Their research was published in the journal Bioresource Technology.
Salmonella is a feces-borne bacterium that can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. Most people recover without treatment, but in severe cases the infection can cause death. The Saintpaul strain may have contributed to the recent death of a Texas cancer patient. That's the only publicly known fatality linked so far to the current outbreak.
Richie Jackson, chief executive of the Texas Restaurant Association, said the CDC's focus on salsa could confuse consumers and frustrate restaurants. The state has confirmed more than 350 cases, the highest number of any state in the U.S.
"To blame salsa brings nothing to the table," said Mr. Jackson, whose state has about 5,000 Mexican restaurants. "Until you can define which ingredient is the culprit, I don't think you can blame salsa and condemn it ... there's all kind of salsas."
He said he's not aware that restaurants in the state have removed salsa from their menus. "If you don't have chips and salsa at the table, you're not in Texas," he said. "I think some of the credibility of the CDC warnings is a little more suspect after the tomato warnings," he added.
State health officials have started "doing a broader interview" with sickened consumers to determine what other ingredients other than tomatoes might be linked, said Emily Palmer, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. She said the department has not narrowed down the source to specific eateries or retailers.
"It is a lengthy investigation," Ms. Palmer said. "What's different about this one, as I think it is across the country, is that we continue to see cases weeks, even a couple of months, after the initial reports."
Meanwhile, tomato producers are still throwing out their products as the investigation drags on. For about six weeks, Desert Glory, a Texas-based grower of premium small tomatoes, has been dumping all its roma tomatoes because the company can't get FDA clearance for them, even though Desert Glory says it can trace them to a safe source. "We just harvest them and throw them away," said Bryant Ambelang, the company's chief marketing officer.
Write to Jane Zhang at Jane.Zhang@wsj.com1 and Janet Adamy at janet.adamy@wsj.com2
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