Salmonella Outbreak: Closer to the Source

A women selling peppers in Mexico City.

Photo: AP Photo / Gregory Bull

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Last week, officials announced that a jalapeño pepper in a Texas distribution warehouse had tested positive for the rare strain of salmonella that has caused the largest outbreak of food-borne illness in over a decade. Questions lingered about specifically where the pepper was grown and where it may have been contaminated.

Now, peppers from Mexico are on the do not eat list. The FDA says raw jalapeño peppers and the foods that contain them (such as fresh salsa) should be avoided if they were grown, harvested or packed in Mexico. In addition, Mexican serrano peppers, which people often confuse with jalapeño peppers, are on the do not eat list.

Agricola Zarigosa, the Texas warehouse where the tainted pepper was discovered, was not the source of contamination, according to the agency.

The FDA is advising consumers that jalapeño and serrano peppers grown in the United States are not connected with the current Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak.

But how will consumers know where the peppers they are eating were grown?

Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's food safety chief, told reporters that for the time being, you'll have to ask.

For more information on the outbreak, you can go to the FDA's website.

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