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Mexico says no signs of salmonella in any produce Mexico said on Sunday there was no evidence that a salmonella outbreak in the United States came from Mexican produce, amid reports U.S. officials will probe jalapeno peppers grown south of the border. "In Mexico there has been no salmonella outbreak in recent months, and definitely not of the type of salmonella being seen in the United States," declared Mexican agriculture ministry spokesman Marco Antonio Sifuentes. Sifuentes said Mexico has not been told of any U.S. plans to expand a probe into Mexican produce beginning on Monday, which was reported by CNN on Thursday. "Nobody has told us anything," Sifuentes said. U.S. health officials are struggling to find the source of the outbreak. Tomatoes continue to be the primary focus of the probe but officials have expanded the investigation to include produce commonly eaten with them like cilantro, jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, scallions and bulb onions, CNN reported. Mexico has not detected salmonella in any of these products, Sifuentes said. There have been at least 943 reported cases of salmonella food poisoning affecting 37 states since mid-April, the FDA said on its Web site. The FDA says at least 130 people have been hospitalized. U.S. inspectors are currently in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa taking samples at tomato farms to try to verify Mexican claims no salmonella is present there, Sifuentes said. The Center for Disease Control says Salmonella Saintpaul, the strain involved in the outbreak, is rare. Typically, the CDC sees only about 400 cases of Saintpaul infections in humans each year. Dr. Cinque's comments: Jalapeno peppers??? How many people even eat Jalapeno peppers. Sure, they are popular in Texas where I live. But this crisis has affected three-quarters of the 50 states. At this point, I don't know that they are ever going to solve this mystery, and even if they do solve it, or claim to solve it, I can't think of a good reason why we should accept what they tell us. It's not like every government investigation ends well. Look at what happened recently with the anthrax investigation. In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft went on television to declare ex-Army scientist Steven Hatfill a "person of interest." They made his life a living hell, but now the government has quietly settled with him for damages, agreeing to pay him $2.85 million upfront and $150,000 a year for 20 years. Apparently, they didn't want to go to court because who knows what that would have dredged up. Besides, that much money is just penny ante change for the government. Today, money is just a blip on the computer screen, created in a nanosecond, and with no limits. But I digress. The point is that other than rinsing your produce well before you eat it, there is no action you need to be taking in response to the salmonella crisis. Nobody has died from this crisis, and it sounds like a round or two of diarrhea has been the worst outcome. So, I have a suggestion for the FDA: just give up. Other than bringing ruin to Florida tomato growers, you haven't accomplished anything, and you're not going to. E-mail to a friend Next Article |
