Jalepenos Not Tomatoes

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Tara Gidus, MS, RD, CSSD, LD/N

I feel sorry for all of the tomato farmers out there who lost millions of dollars collectively because of the recent salmonella tomato scare. Now the FDA is thinking that tomatoes were not the culprit, but rather peppers.

The FDA announced earlier this week that a jalapeno pepper tested positive for the Salmonella Saintpaul strain that caused the outbreak. They never did find a tomato that tested positive. Originally they thought tomatoes were the culprit, but then they realized that many people who were getting sick did not have a link to tomatoes.

The pepper they found was found in a distribution center in Texas from a pepper grown in Mexico. The Texas distributor has recalled the contaminated peppers and products made with the peppers in the US.

The FDA is still advising that you avoid eating raw jalapeno or serrano peppers.

Photo of jalapeno pepper courtesy of infovisual

Labels: peppers, salmonella, Tara Gidus, tomatoes

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