Produce from Mexico

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Permalink Reply by Cooking Kman on July 7, 2008 at 8:51am

With the exception of onions, the rest should be easily available on a local level. Just switching supply for a while might solve the problem until it gets sorted out. I know this isn't always the greatest option depending on the size of your operation, but it's doable and then you don't have to change your product.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Swenson on July 9, 2008 at 5:06pm

Salmonella infects over 1,000; peppers now eyedPublished - Jul 09 2008 04:08PM PDT | AP
By LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP Medical Writer
More than 1,000 people now have become ill from salmonella initially linked to raw tomatoes, a sobering milestone Wednesday that makes this the worst foodborne outbreak in at least a decade. Adding to the confusion, the government is warning certain people to avoid types of hot peppers, too.

Certain raw tomatoes _ red round, plum and Roma _ remain a chief suspect and the government stressed again Wednesday that all consumers should avoid them unless they were harvested in areas cleared of suspicion.

But people at highest risk of severe illness from salmonella also should not eat raw jalapeno and serrano peppers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Wednesday. The most vulnerable are the elderly, people with weak immune systems and infants.


Raw jalapenos caused some of the illnesses, conclude CDC investigations of two clusters of sick people who ate at the same restaurant or catered event.

But jalapenos cannot be the sole culprit _ because many of the ill insist they didn't eat hot peppers or foods like salsa that contain them, CDC food safety chief Dr. Robert Tauxe told The Associated Press. As for serrano peppers, that was included in the warning because they're difficult for consumers to tell apart.

In some clusters of illnesses, jalapenos "simply were not on the menu," Tauxe said. "We are quite sure that neither tomatoes nor jalapenos explain the entire outbreak at this point. ... We're presuming that both of them have caused illness."

That has Food and Drug Administration inspectors looking hard for farms that may have grown tomatoes earlier in the spring and then switched to pepper harvesting, or for distribution centers that handled both types of produce.

Also still being investigated is fresh cilantro, because a significant number of people who got sick most recently say they ate all three _ raw tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro.

"I understand the frustration" that after weeks of warnings, the outbreak isn't solved, Tauxe said. "But we really are working as hard and as fast as we can to sort out this complicated situation and protect the health of the American people."

Added FDA food safety chief Dr. David Acheson: "It's just been a spectacularly complicated and prolonged outbreak."

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