The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still advising consumers to avoid raw jalapeño peppers and foods that contain them if they were grown, harvested, or packed in Mexico because of the threat of the rare Saintpaul type of Salmonella enterica.  Jalapeño and serrano peppers grown in the United States are not the culprit, according to the FDA.

To date, 1,307 people in the U.S. have been infected as a result of the outbreak.  The largest number of cases are in New Mexico and Texas, with 56.9 and 20.8 reported cases per million people, respectively. 

Jim Prevor of PerishablePundit.com argues that the FDA’s find of Salmonella in a single jalapeño pepper at McAllen, Texas produce importer Agricola Zaragoza, Inc. does not mean that the pepper or Agricola Zaragoza has anything to do with the outbreak.  The rationale: an Agricola Zaragoza worker could have become infected by an external source brought the contamination to the pepper at work.  Mr. Prevor believes “that the risk for healthy people of eating fresh jalapeños was always inconsequential and, at this date, is de minimus.”

As I reported in a July 26, 2008 post, Mexico has objected to the FDA’s labeling of Mexico as the source of the outbreak.