Salmonella Tests Lead to Alert: Jalapeno Peppers and Avocados From ...

Tag : Avocados

Then investigators talked with the restaurant's staff to determinewhat was in the food those people ate and then tested 22ingredients from salt to cumin, said Joseph Reardon, director ofthe agriculture department's food and drug protection division. Thenext question -- where the restaurant got its products -- led themto El Campo Produce in Charlotte, where they compared the itemsthey tested with shipping invoices for the restaurant's recentorders.
"We wanted to make sure we got 100 percent of theproducts," he said. "We focused on things that weren't inthe restaurant."
They tested produce from dozens of pallets, as well as thedistribution center's equipment and even the ice.
Two items -- jalapeno peppers and avocados -- came back positivefor salmonella. They had come from a Texas supplier, Grande ProduceLimited.
At the same time, Texas officials were doing their own testing andidentified the same strain of salmonella leading back to the samecompany in Texas.
The state's announcement Thursday came on the same day that federalofficials cleared tomatoes of being the cause of a salmonellaoutbreak earlier this summer and instead indicated that jalapenoand serrano peppers could be the source. North Carolina'sinvestigators had found a different strain of salmonella than thatwhich has sickened 1,100 people nationally this summer.
State officials continue to work with federal officials to find theoutbreak of that salmonella scare.
"We have not found the smoking gun yet," said stateepidemiologist Jeffry Engel.
In addition, they continue to try to find out how the produce atthe El Campo distribution center came in contact with salmonella.
Salmonella can be transferred to produce through unsanitaryhandling, transportation vehicles or even in soil. Now inspectorsare looking closely at the transportation methods used to move theaffected produce.
In addition, state inspectors are still looking for other storesand restaurants that may have received shipments from GrandeProduce Limited through a different distribution company.
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services spokesman BrianLong predicted the list of affected stores and restaurants willgrow beyond its current 130.
Only one of those, Taqueria Mi Pueblo at 223 The Village in Durham,is in the Triangle.
State inspectors will work into next week visiting all of thoseestablishments to make sure the affected products have beenremoved.
"It's going to go into next week," he said.
sue.stock@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4649
-----
To see more of The News & Observer, or to subscribe to thenewspaper, go to http://www.newsobserver.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or writeto The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303,Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: The News & Observer
More News in this Category