FDA finds salmonella strain at second Mexican farm (AP)
Posted by admin on Jul 30, 2008
Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety chief, called the finding a key breakthrough in the case, as did another health official.
“We have a smoking (happy quit smoking - try stop smoking patch) gun, it appears,” said Dr. Lonnie King who directs the center for foodborne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Acheson said the farm is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Previously, the FDA had traced a contaminated jalapeno pepper to a farm in another part of Mexico.
Acheson and other officials were grilled at a congressional hearing about why the investigation originally focused on tomatoes.
The officials insisted that tomatoes still cannot be ruled out and that it is quite possible that the outbreak was caused by several different kinds of contaminated produce.
The ebullition has sickened more than 1,300 people since April.
Tomatoes had been the prime suspect in the nationwide outbreak for weeks. But last week, the FDA aforesaid only jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico were implicated in the nationwide salmonella outbreak. The FDA said then it had fix the same strain of salmonella responsible for the sake of the outbreak on a uncompounded Mexican-grown jalapeno in a south Texas produce warehouse.
If it turns out the tainted irrigation water was also used on tomatoes, it could covenant some of the evidence that federal authorities are looking for to back their creative focus on the fruit.
THIS IS A BREAKING news UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
WASINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials say the salmonella strain linked to a nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and a serrano pepper at a Mexican farm.
Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety chief, is calling the finding a key breakthrough in the case.
Acheson said the farm is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Previously, the FDA had traced a contaminated jalapeno to a farm in another part of Mexico.
Acheson and other officials were grilled Wednesday at a congressional hearing about why the investigation originally focused on tomatoes.
the officials insisted that tomatoes still cannot have being ruled out and that it is quite possible that the outbreak was caused by several different kinds of contaminated produce.