Thread: Jalapenos may be salmonella culprit

U.S. checks Mexico for source of salmonella
FDA not sure tomatoes are responsible, so cilantro and peppers join list
updated 12:30 a.m. ET, Sun., July. 6, 2008

Since a salmonella scare caused many customers to shun what's normally a summer favorite, tomato farmers across the nation have had to plow under their fields and leave their crop to rot in packinghouses.

AUTLAN, Mexico - Inspectors are collecting soil, water and produce samples, reviewing export logs and combing packing plants in three major tomato-growing states in Mexico.

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration appears no closer to finding the source of a mysterious salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 900 people nationwide.

The FDA is not even 100 percent sure that tomatoes are the cause — adding peppers and cilantro Saturday to its list of foods under investigation in the outbreak.

A team of three FDA inspectors has gone through five farms in the western states of Jalisco and Sinaloa in the past two weeks, looking at all aspects of tomato production: the greenhouses where they are grown, the packing plants where they are shut into boxes, the shipping methods for the trip north to the U.S.

They also plan to visit the northern state of Coahuila to finish up their study.

Farms face rotting crops
The results can't come too soon for the three Mexican states that were targeted by the FDA, along with farms in Texas and Florida.

Bonanza 2001 farm in Autlan, Jalisco, which normally exports about 12,000 tons of tomatoes a year to the U.S., has hundreds of tons sitting in a warehouse near the Texas-Mexico border as demand has plummeted, said spokesman Luis Almejo.

They may rot.

Sinaloa growers also face big losses.

"We're demanding that they release those results as soon as possible so that Sinaloa can be cleared of any suspicion," said Manuel Tarriba, president of Sinaloa's Tomato Growers Association, adding that he expects some results by the end of next week.

The outbreak, which began in April, has affected 943 people so far in 40 U.S. states, more of a third of them in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 225 cases reported since June 1 — evidence that the source likely has not been contained.

The U.S. tomato industry has taken a $100 million hit as restaurants temporarily dropped tomatoes from their menus, and farmers have had to plow under their fields or leave crops to rot in packinghouses.

Mexico has not calculated its losses. But growers here worry they still may be under a shadow of suspicion as late as November, when greenhouses harvest their summer tomatoes.

Cilantro, peppers also under scrutiny
FDA spokesman Kimberly Rawlings said Saturday evening that the FDA "is looking into tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno peppers and Serrano peppers. We have started testing on those items within the past few days."

Salmonella can be transmitted to humans when fecal material from animals or humans contaminates food. Fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps typically start eight to 48 hours after infection and can last a week. Many people recover without treatment. But severe infection and death are possible. At least 130 people have been hospitalized in this outbreak, the CDC says.

FDA inspectors wouldn't speak to an Associated Press reporter at the Bonanza 2001 farm, one of 15 in Jalisco state that export to the U.S.

As they reviewed the packing plant, workers in aprons, hairnets and plastic gloves cleaned and packed the last tomato harvest to be shipped to the company's warehouse in Pharr, Texas.

Bonanza has about 150 acres of greenhouse tomatoes in a lush valley near Jalisco's south coast, an area shared by several U.S.-owned tomato growing companies, including San Antonio-based Desert Glory, North America's largest grower of greenhouse tomatoes.

Jalisco state agriculture official Martin Figueroa said FDA inspectors visited only Bonanza but left open the possibility of returning.

In Sinaloa, which grows about 40 percent of all tomatoes sent to the U.S., they checked full operations — including irrigation methods — at four farms, Tarriba said.

Sinaloa state wrapped up its winter harvest in June. Farmers now are cleaning their greenhouses and waiting for U.S. clearance before planting more tomatoes. They also are asking Mexican and U.S. authorities to come up with a binational certification program that would establish the same sanitation standards at every agricultural producer in Mexico, Tarriba said.

Currently, private U.S. certification companies check sanitation standards in Mexico.

He said once Sinaloa is cleared, the state will launch a damage-control ad campaign in the United States.

"We have to gain back the consumers' trust," Tarriba said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25548365/

very simple solution...................let's stop spending U.S. taxpayer money to oversee MEXICAN farms/produce.......prohibit MEXICAN produce from entering the U.S. AND Americans should just stop buying imported produce especially from Mexico...demand that your green grocer stop selling it and instead opt for local produce and produce from U.S. farms.

BOYCOTT MEXICO. BOYCOTT MEXICAN PRODUCE. BUY AMERICAN.

They will say and do anything to not have Mexico blamed for the mass poisening outbreaks of the last few years since they started importing everything from Mexico. What else could possibly explain the gross incompetence suddenly being displayed by the US inspectors ? They could easily require that farms do their own testing ( about $50-$100 per farm ) but that would immediately and conclusively show that Bush's rabid free market policies have been a disaster and have poisened and killed thousands of Americans.

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

So in brief...

40% of the people that travel to Mexico get sick from the water due to E Coli and Salmonella and other pathogens in the drinking water.

Now people are shocked the produce being sent up from Mexico makes you sick?

Duh.

W

Kind of a no brainer and defintely no surprise.

Originally Posted by legalatina

very simple solution...................let's stop spending U.S. taxpayer money to oversee MEXICAN farms/produce.......prohibit MEXICAN produce from entering the U.S. AND Americans should just stop buying imported produce especially from Mexico...demand that your green grocer stop selling it and instead opt for local produce and produce from U.S. farms.

BOYCOTT MEXICO. BOYCOTT MEXICAN PRODUCE. BUY AMERICAN.

Very simple and would BE VERY EFFECTIVE!

It's all about NAFTA, free trade to benefit the elites with open borders and massive unencumbered movement of goods and cheap labor with the consilidation of power via the SPP to form the ultimate...NAU. The problems, like this poisoning of the American people, is bad publicity for all of the above and the Bilderberg Group wants to deflect all blame from Mexico, its cheap labor and goods supplier. Know this, the Bilderberg's also control the vast majority of the MSM.

bad publicity for all of the above and the Bilderberg Group wants to deflect all blame from Mexico, its cheap labor and goods supplier.

Too bad we are all on to them, deflecting is not going to work....AND WE ARE ALL AS MAD AS HELL AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!

BOYCOTT ALL FOOD PRODUCTS FROM MEXICO! That shouldnt be hard to do considering it gets its nurishment from human waste and animal sewage.

Another reason I don't eat in any type of mejican eatery...I even avoid Taco Bell!!

I just came up with another possibility. As my condo is now 4th world thanks to units rented to illegals, I was researching unsanitary conditions and disease. I always new cockroach infestations were bad but never knew till today that they actually do carry e.coli and salmonella among other diseases. If produce is stored in cockroach infested warehouses or processing areas they could introduce the disease as well. Cockroaches are more numerous in warmer climates.