So maybe it’s not the tomatoes now? Let’s blame the chilis

The FDA has now announced they are searching for the source of the recent nation wide Salmonella outbreak and somehow it is now focusing on the "Mexican Connection" . No, not from south of the border, its more of a cuisine thing. I guess someone at the FDA has had an outbreak after eating Mexican food and that sounded good to the scientists. Let's blame the chili's

I know many of you may have removed the raw tomatoes from menus or started to be a little more careful about the source of your tomatoes. But now the FDA thinks that ingredients traditionally used in mexican cuisine may hold the carrier.

I have some empathy for the unenviable task of trying to track down such a complex contamination, tomatoes are picked, washed, mixed, packed by the truck load. If you have ever driven the 5 mid summer you know how many tomatoes are just scattered along the highway. Its a huge machine, the tomato industry. All taking a huge hit right now. Maybe we should make tomato ethenol with all the spoils?

From Bloomberg -

``We are not shutting down our borders'' to those products, said agency spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek today. ``We are stepping up our testing of products grown domestically and from Mexico.'' An earlier report by CNN said the U.S. would ban imports of some foods from Mexico.

Tomatoes initially were blamed on the outbreak that has stricken 943 people since April 10, according to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. More than a third of the cases have been reported in Texas.

In addition to tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, Serrano peppers and cilantro were added to the list of possible tainted products, Kwisnek said.

The strain, called salmonella saintpaul, takes two to three weeks to manifest itself, the CDC said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a1fcxa1c52Mo&refer=news