Mexican hunt for salmonella sources
2008-07-07 14:56:24 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com - Health News News)Autlan, Mexico (CaymanMama.com) — Although health inspectors have been collecting samples of soil, produce and water from three major tomato-cultivating states in Mexico, the FDA has not been able to come close to the reason why over 900 people throughout the nation have become ill from eating salmonella-infected tomatoes.
During the last two weeks, the team of three inspectors from the FDA has investigated almost every aspect of tomato production in Sinaloa and Jalisco including the greenhouses in which they were cultivated, the packaging plants where people shut packaged them into boxes and the methods of shipping to the U.S. They are also planning to visit Coahuila in order to complete their study.
The targets of the FDA were three states in Mexico and farms in Florida and Texas. The Bonanza 2001 farm of Autlan, Jalisco which usually exports around 12,000 tons of tomatoes per year to the US, has hundreds of tons of tomatoes lying in the warehouse as the demand for tomatoes has dramatically plummeted, said Luis Almejo, a spokesman.
This can lead to big losses on the part of the farmers and growers. Manuel Tarriba, the president of Tomato Growers’ Association of Sinaloa, said that they wish the results of the investigations would come out soon so that any suspicion on tomatoes may be cleared. The outbreak began in the U.S. in April and since then, 943 people have been affected in 40 different states, with over one third of the patients in Texas alone.
The government intends to look into sources other than tomatoes to find the causes of the salmonella outbreak. The FDA is looking into jalapeño peppers in addition to other ingredients that are used for making salsa like Serrano peppers and cilantro. Investigations have been made into what the inflicted people ate so that diets of healthy people may be compared with them. Currently, private certification companies from the U.S. are checking the sanitation standards of Mexico.
CaymanMama.com - Press Release Distribution Service
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