They managed to do it with a little drum roll before a Congressional committee. The smoking hot pepper has been captured across the Rio Grande in Mexico. Here’s a bit of what the Washington Post reported just a short time ago:
Investigators discovered the Salmonella saintpaul strain in irrigation water and serrano peppers on a
According to the CDC since April, 1237 persons infected genetic fingerprint have been identified in 43 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. These were identified because clinical laboratories in all states send Salmonella strains from ill persons to their State public health laboratory for characterization. One new state, Montana, reported a case. The number
More from the Centers For Disease Control & Prevention can be found in the extended reading section.
From a CDC/FDA Press Conference today:
As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak – or if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating newly harvested tomatoes. Federal health officials say there’s no evidence clearing tomatoes. But
This weekend began with news from both the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
The FDA gave the impression it was closing in on the source of the contaminated tomatoes, sending teams into areas of both Mexico and Florida to some specific farms that might finally turn up who is responsible for the outbreak. FDA said:
The FDA is now working to narrow the investigation. As part of this, the agency is sending teams of multi-disciplinary experts to both Mexico and Florida this weekend to conduct joint inspections of the farms and other critical points on the supply chain where the tomatoes may have become contaminated.
The FDA investigators will conduct joint inspections with regulators in Mexico and Florida at the farms and other distribution points. Meanwhile, the FDA will continue to collect samples of tomatoes and conduct traceback activities.
To further narrow the investigation, the FDA is working with the state of Texas to traceback a cluster of illnesses recently found by the state of Texas. We are hopeful that this will provide additional information to bring the agency closer to the source of the contamination.
The FDA is working jointly with Mexico and Florida and other states to update the list of areas not associated with the outbreak and will continue to post the information on the web site.
While painting a target on Mexico, FDA at the same time added most Mexican states to the
list of "safe" tomato growing areas.
The "safe" areas now include include the Mexican states of: Aguascalientes, Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Colima, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tobasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas.
The only Mexican state bordering on the U.S. not on the "safe" list is Coahuila.
CDC’s list of confirmed cases of Salmonella Saintpaul connected to the tainted tomatoes was 552 as the weekend began. It said 32 states and the District of Columbia were involved. New Jersey and Rhode Island were the latest states added to the outbreak list.
So, will FDA close the case or be left so befuddled that the agency makes Lou Dobbs look profound? What will it say about Mexico or Florida if either area is named when the music stops?
How high will CDC’s confirmed number of cases go? Might CDC say something about the liklihood from previous studies that something like 38 people go untreated for every confirmed case of salmonella?
That, gentle readers, means about 21,000 people are now victims of Salmonella Saintpaul due to bad tomatoes.
Continue Reading Will the Great Salmonella Saintpaul Tomato Outbreak End With A Bang or A Whimper?
States with persons with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul, by state of residence.
Here are the money lines from today’s update on the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak involving tomatoes from the Centers on Disease Control & Prevention:
Since April, 383 persons infected with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 30
Since yesterday’s update of the numbers from the Centers for Disease Control, it appears that new cases of Salmonella Saintpaul have turned up in Ohio, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia.
The Columbus Dispatch reports:
Three cases of salmonella have been reported in central Ohio and linked to the national outbreak involving tomatoes, according to
The CDC website’s updated map showing states with persons with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul, by state of residence.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention offers the following summary of the outbreak as of today:
Since mid-April, 167 persons infected with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 17 states: Arizona (12 persons), California (2)
Bob Drobatz is president of operations for Petaluma Market in Santa Rosa, CA. He told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that the tomatoes he was pulling from grocery shelves came from Mexico.
Mexico is one of the biggest suppliers of red round tomatoes and the country was conspicuously absent from the FDA “safe” list, Drobatz
The FDA is now working to narrow the investigation. As part of this, the agency is sending teams of multi-disciplinary experts to both Mexico and Florida this weekend to conduct joint inspections of the farms and other critical points on the supply chain where the tomatoes may have become contaminated.