The Mexican government has demanded that US food safety authorities clear all the country’s tomato producing regions of involvement in the recent Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, which struck in Arizona and New Mexico.
With all but three of Mexico’s states absolved of any suspicion linking them with the food scare, Mexican agriculture secretary, Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez, urged the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to clear the remaining regions, Jalisco, Coahuila and Sinaloa.
Speaking during a tour of Sinaloa and Michoacán, Mr Cárdenas Jiménez, claimed the FDA had completed its scientific and technical investigation into Mexican tomatoes and found no link between the produce and the Salmonella strain.
He added that Mexico’s ambassador to the US, Arturo Sarukhán, had send a letter to top officials at the FDA demanding that the “unfounded suspicion” surrounding Mexican tomatoes was quickly resolved.
The demand comes as Mexico-sourced Serrano and Jalapeño chilli peppers, and coriander became the latest products to be linked with the Salmonella outbreak.
