The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced this week that one Mexico-sourced jalapeño pepper sample is a positive genetic match with the Salmonella Saintpaul strain causing the current Salmonella outbreak.
The positive sample was obtained during an FDA inspection at a produce distribution centre in McAllen, Texas. But, while the contaminated pepper was grown on a farm in Mexico, the organisation stressed that this did not mean that the product was contaminated in Mexico.
The FDA said the produce distribution centre involved, Agricola Zaragoza, was working with the organisation to voluntarily recall jalapeño peppers that had been distributed since 30 June 2008.
Since the recall will not immediately remove all potentially contaminated produce from the supply chain, the agency is asking US consumers to avoid eating raw jalapeño peppers until further notice.
The FDA said it was continuing to investigate other parts of the distribution chain to determine whether there was any evidence that the contamination occurred on the farm in which the pepper was grown or at some other point in the supply chain before it reached the distribution centre.
According to the organisation, 1,251 people with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 43 states and Canada since April 2008.
