In salmonella hunt, FDA looking at salsa

Now the feds may be coming for your salsa.

As the trail goes cold in the Food and Drug Administration's investigation of a nationwide outbreak of salmonella first thought to be due to tainted tomatoes, the agency has expanded its focus to include hot peppers, onions and cilantro.

The agency hadn't officially warned consumers or the food industry early this week, but a variety of news reports indicate that FDA staff have been leaking information about possible produce crackdowns -- such as more rigorous inspections of salsa ingredients at the U.S.-Mexico border -- which could disrupt produce shipments.

While harvest is starting for California's hot peppers, some of the state's supply is imported from Mexico, a target of FDA scrutiny.

Sacramento-area grocers, produce distributors and farmers said that they've received no notice of upcoming FDA actions.

FDA concern could either help or hurt farmers. Silverio Castaneda Jr., a supervisor at Castaneda Bros. farm near Fairfield, Calif. said a broad FDA warning about hot peppers could send consumers into a panic, depressing sales for all jalapeqos -- including his, which soon will be ready for harvest.

But a narrower recall, targeting peppers from a certain source, could turn out to be a boon.

"If people realize where they're coming from, it could help us. The market will tend to want the clean product," he said.

California-grown tomatoes were never implicated in the salmonella outbreak, and FDA officials have not suggested other California-grown salsa ingredients are suspects in their investigation.

The salmonella outbreak has sickened 943 people in 40 states, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illnesses have been concentrated in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Illinois. At least 140 people have been hospitalized.

Large as the outbreak is, it amounts to only a small fraction of the roughly 40,000 cases of salmonella poisoning reported each year in the United States. The actual number of infections could be well over 1 million annually, according to the CDC, because minor cases generally are not reported.

(E-mail Jim Downing at jdowning(at)sacbee.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)