Salmonella Peppers Come from Mexican Farms

The FDA has announced that it has discovered a source of the salmonella outbreak in the United States. The tests that were carried out by the agency found traces of the salmonella Saintpaul, the strain that caused the outbreak, on serrano peppers from a farm in Nuevo Leon. What is more, the bacteria was also found in water at that farm.

The discovery is good news for the tomato industry, since warnings regarding certain types of tomatoes have been lifted. However, the industry's losses rise up to $250 million, money that the producers, packers and distributors have hardly any chance of getting back.

Mexican authorities have shown reluctance at how the research took place and considered that blaming Mexican producers for the salmonella outbreak was not a fair thing. According to Reuters, the Agriculture Ministry's director of food health, Mr. Enrique Sanchez said that “What they took was a sample from soil after the harvest. That is not scientifically valid in any part of the world.”

Why the Food and Drugs Administration agency has decided to look into serrano and jalapeno peepers only in early July was one of the questions that top officials of the agency had to answer to in front of the Congress.

The FDA said that the process of tracking the source of the outbreak was slowed down because there isn't any system that follows the path of fresh food products from their producers to the consumers. Implementing such a system will make things much easier in case of a future outbreak.