Mexican peppers posed problem long before outbreak

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-19 09:19

"Somebody could have picked up a box and looked at peppers if they wanted to, but I'm not sure that would have been a high priority," Buchanan said. "It would require a big leap to think that salmonella in dried peppers could be related to problems in fresh chilies."

Since the salmonella outbreak began in April, 1,423 people have fallen ill and the produce industry has lost more than $200 million as consumers have shied away from buying fresh produce.

Federal investigators are now focusing their probe on fresh hot peppers from Mexico - jalapenos and serranos - but still suspect that tainted tomatoes were initially involved.

This month, the agency put a dozen Mexican growers or distributors on its "import alert" list for tougher border screening.

On Friday, Acheson said the agency had stepped up testing of certain Mexican produce and uncovered more cases of salmonella contamination - just not the same strain that caused this particular outbreak - in jalapenos, basil and cilantro.

In July, six separate shipments of fresh jalapenos and serranos were stopped after inspectors found they were contaminated with salmonella, FDA data shows.

One crate detained on July 29 came from Agricola Zaragoza, a Mexican packinghouse that handled produce from two farms where chilies linked to the outbreak were traced.

"If so many of the peppers we eat in the US come in from Mexico, you'd think we would want to pay more attention," said Mike Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety, which works with industry to improve growing and packing practices. "Something isn't working."

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