Salmonella
bacteria: Mexico and the U.S. disagree on where
a
Mexican-grown pepper actually became contaminated.
El Universal, Mexico
U.S. Charge on Jalapeño
Peppers 'Lacks Any Scientific Evidence'
"The decision
against [Mexican] jalapeno peppers seemed hasty to me, and for that reason we
have asked that greater care be taken before statements of this type are
made."
-- Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel
Cordova
By J. Jaime Hernández, Manuel Lombera and Jonathan Tapia
Translated By Miguel Gutierrez
July 31, 2008
Mexico - El Universal -
Original Article (Spanish)
WASHINGTON: After an
arduous and controversial investigation, U.S. health authorities determined
yesterday that the source of serrano and jalapeno
peppers contaminated with a strain of salmonella were Saint Paul irrigation
systems in the fields of Nuevo Leon state, Mexico.
Jalapeno
peppers: The FDA found a jalapeno pepper contaminated
with a strain of salmonella that has sickened thousands of people. The
pepper, which showed up at a Texas distribution facility, originated in
Mexico
but could have been contaminated in a variety of places. …
Confronted with this, the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that people refrain from eating
chilies from Mexico.
The salmonella
contamination, which has resulted in the hospitalization of 370 people in 43
U.S. states, has been reduced to a single source of contagion in Mexico, ending
an intense investigation and an ongoing source of diplomatic friction.
Confronted with this
assertion, Mexican government health authorities have called for restraint [on
the part of consumers] similar to that of their North American counterparts,
since serrano and jalapeno peppers grown and packed
on Mexican territory could have become contaminated in the neighboring country
[the U.S.].
Health Secretary Jose
Angel Cordova, interviewed in Campeche, pointed out that on the tomato issue,
no evidence of contamination was identified.
"The decision against [Mexican] jalapeno peppers seemed hasty to
me, and for that reason we have asked that greater care be taken before
statements of this type are made."
Peppers
for sale in a Mexico City market, July 26.
He indicated that the
contaminated pepper found at a Texas company did
originate in Mexico, but that there is a question of whether the contamination
could have taken place in the United States.
Enrique Sánchez Cruz, director of the National Farm Food Quality
Service, said that the FDA investigators into Mexican Jalapeño peppers
"lacked any scientific evidence."
He made it clear that the
tests were "inconsistent," since the water samples were taken from a water
tank in Tamaulipas: "The tank water could have gotten contaminated by
roaming cattle or any number of things."
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
He also assured people
that the border, "has not been closed to Mexican
exports of jalapeno peppers, which totals 12,000 tons annually."
Director General, Nuevo
Leon Agriculture & Livestock Development Corporation, Fermín
Montes Cavazos, dismissed the idea that the outbreak
could be traced back to his organization, since it last produced this type of
pepper in April, whereas the contaminated pepper was picked in the beginning of
June.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
He also stressed that the
contaminated pepper was collected from a plot of land that had already been
replanted, although harvested fruit spends several days out of the ground
during which it may easily become contaminated.
He added that the
sampling was not objective: "The water sample and the serrano
pepper were not from Nuevo Leon, but from another state."
'IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE'
"We have a smoking
gun," said Dr. Lonnie King of the Center for Disease Control, when
informing the public that the Salmonella Saintpaul
strain in an irrigation system used in fields of jalapeño peppers had been
picked up by CDC instruments in a sample earlier in its the investigation.
The information,
well-publicized during a Congressional hearing yesterday, was that the
contaminated pepper was found at the Agricola Zarigosa
produce distribution center in McAllen, Texas, and that all farms that grow
jalapeño peppers in the New Mexico highlands and other regions of the United
States have been cleared of all suspicion.
The FDA, the agency at
the forefront of a complex and risky almost four-month investigation that
included toiling in fields of tomato, onion and coriander - has asserted that
at last it had managed to determine the origin of the contamination and has
recommended that the population abstain from consuming jalapeño peppers
originating in Mexico.
This recommendation has
to be respected, especially among "high risk" populations such as
children, the elderly and patients with fragile immune systems.
Last week, Mexico
submitted its suspicions about the jalapeños to the FDA.
CLICK HERE FOR SPANISH VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US August 1, 9:19pm]