Where did the Tomatos come from?????

[MoGal]

Well, the FDA is going to be randomly testing (according to CNN) vegetable imports from Mexico..... and it may also be jalapeno peppers causing this as well..........

 

[PORKER]

The 411 on foodborne illness
The number of persons infected with Salmonella Saintpaul is approaching 1,000, with victims identified in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada.

But as of this writing federal authorities are still stymied and seem no closer to finding a cause. In fact, over the holiday weekend the investigation was broadened to include not only the original suspect—tomatoes—but also foods commonly eaten with tomatoes such as those found in salsa. Cilantro as well as jalapeño and Serrano peppers have been added to the probe.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the government is investigating fresh salsa prepared at restaurants—and not processed or canned or jarred salsa. According to the report, the restaurants have not been identified. The Washington Post writes today that some salsas prepared at home are also in the mix.

What has been confounding about this latest outbreak of Salmonella is its longevity. Since April, 971 persons infected with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (2 persons), Arkansas (10), Arizona (45), California (8), Colorado (12), Connecticut (4), Florida (2), Georgia (24), Idaho (4), Illinois (93), Indiana (14), Iowa (2), Kansas (17), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (1), Maine (1), Maryland (29), Massachusetts (22), Michigan (7), Minnesota (8), Missouri (12), New Hampshire (4), Nevada (11), New Jersey (9), New Mexico (98), New York (28), North Carolina (10), Ohio (7), Oklahoma (23), Oregon (10), Pennsylvania (8), Rhode Island (3), South Carolina (1), Tennessee (8), Texas (381), Utah (2), Virginia (29), Vermont (2), Washington (4), Wisconsin (10), and the District of Columbia (1). Four ill persons are reported from Canada; three appear to have been infected while traveling in the United States, and one illness remains under investigation.

 

[Anonymous]

CNN was reporting today that besides the 1,000 victims identified- there is believed to be 30-40,000 that have been made sick by the tainted products....

And this FDA/USDA still doesn't have a clue :roll: - altho now (way too late according to CNN) they are concentrating their efforts on Mexico...

 

[PORKER]

Just read that 90% of US tomato's are repacked, that is Mexico product is mixed in with US product to make every box of tomato's look uniform. No idee which tomato is from god only knows where!!


The FDA during the course of this investigation was surprised to learn about extensive repackaging of U.S.-produced tomatoes for retail distribution. Investigators found some American tomatoes are picked, boxed and sent to Mexico for sorting and repackaging. The products bear stickers stating they were grown in the United States.

 

[MoGal]

Well, they said last night on tv that they've found Basil from Mexico contaminated with salmonella....... you suppose we could send a vegetable basket to Congress and central bankers with all Mexican vegetables.....????

 

[PORKER]

GAO gives U.S. food safety low marks
Posted July 15, 2008 12:06 PM

by Stephen J. Hedges

The Government Accountability Office released an audit Monday suggesting at least six other countries and the European Union have better food safety systems than the United States.

The 97-page audit was requested by two of the most vocal food safety critics in Congress, Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, (D-Conn.).

Both have pressed for a single food safety agency instead of the dual system in the U.S. right now - the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates most foods, while the Department of Agriculture is responsible for meat, poultry and egg safety.

"I hope today's report serves as a wake-up call for the Administration and others in Congress," Durbin said. "We need a thoughtful overhaul and reorganization of America's food safety system."

The audit examined how six countries, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the E.U., reorganized food safety systems to work more efficiently. The GAO found that those nations do things better by taking a "farm to table approach."


"For example, food safety laws cover every stage of the food production process," the study found, "starting with how animals are raised and ending when food reaches the consumer. All countries GAO reviewed focus import inspections on the foods likeliest to pose the greatest risk."

The FDA and USDA have struggled through a year of high-profile recalls. The latest, involving the salmonella poisoning of 1,148 people in 42 states and the District of Columbia, is believed to have been caused by bad produce like tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. The FDA is still trying to find the source of that problem.

Meanwhile USDA, which in February launched the largest meat recall ever (143 million pounds), is experiencing more E coli contamination cases this summer. Nebraska Beef, an Omaha meatpacking company, recently recalled 5.3 million pounds of beef due to E coli contamination. That recall began in June when the Kroger Co., recalled meat from some of its stores.
The study also touched on themes that are part of the current food safety debate, namely the inability to quickly track bad food and order companies to conduct recalls. Under current law, recalls are voluntary.

 

[Anonymous]

Now they are not even sure if it was tomatoes in the first place :roll: They are investigating jalapeno and serrano peppers from a Mexican plant in connection to it....
How many $billions did US producers again lose because of FDA/USDA's shoddy import rules and testing standards and ability :???:

FDA: Tomatoes Safe to Eat
OK to Eat All Types of Tomatoes From All Sources, FDA Says
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MDJuly 17, 2008 -- All tomatoes are safe to eat without worry about contracting salmonella, FDA officials announced today.

"We are lifting the tomato warning and we believe consumers can enjoy all types of fresh tomatoes that are on the domestic market in the United States," David Acheson, MD, the FDA's associate commissioner for foods, said today at a joint FDA-CDC news conference.

The FDA is continuing to investigate jalapeno and serrano peppers in connection with the salmonella outbreak, and has dispatched a team of investigators to a pepper packing facility in Mexico. The FDA's tomato investigation has found no signs of salmonella saintpaul, the rare outbreak strain seen in the salmonella outbreak.

The FDA and CDC continue to recommend that people at high risk of complications from salmonella infection -- that's infants, the elderly, and people with weak immune systems -- not eat raw jalapeno or serrano peppers. Other people are free to do the same, but the government's pepper warning is only for people at high risk.

The salmonella outbreak has sickened at least 1,220 people in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada since it began in April. At least 224 people have been hospitalized with salmonella infection. The outbreak is ongoing but appears to be easing after hitting a plateau between late May and mid-June, according to the CDC.

The FDA isn't saying that tomatoes were never the problem. Tomatoes don't explain all of the cases, and neither do peppers, so Acheson says it's possible that the source of the outbreak may have shifted from one type of produce to another.

At the start of the outbreak, "the science led us to believe strong association with tomatoes," Acheson says. "We stand behind that science that set us on the tomato track to begin with" but the science "changes; it evolves, and we have to evolve with it."

"We agree that the information implicating tomatoes early in the outbreak was quite strong," Robert Tauxe, MD, MPH, deputy director of the CDC's division of food-borne, bacterial, and mycotic diseases, said at the news conference. "We have been interested and concerned form the beginning that a lot of foods are served together in items like sauces and salsas."

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/news/20080717/fda-tomatoes-safe-to-eat?ecd=wnl_nal_071708&spon=912345_0

 

[PORKER]

Don't eat the peppers or salsa.

 

[Anonymous]

Salmonella found on pepper; FDA strengthens warning


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Investigators had a "significant break" in tracking the salmonella outbreak when they found the bacteria on a jalapeño pepper imported from Mexico at a Texas food supplier, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.


The FDA has discouraged all consumers from eating raw jalapeño peppers.

The FDA also warned consumers not to eat fresh jalapeños and products made with fresh jalapeños.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/07/21/fda.salmonella/index.html

Dobbs has a comment about this incompetentency/corruption in this current FDA and their investigation....As he has insinuated- he believes the FDA didn't want to look for it in Mexico, because they didn't want anything to screw up Mexico's dumping of all the imports into the country.....
Profiteering of the foreign invested companies and rich and elitist importers again put ahead of US consumer health and US producers.....

July 21, 2008
$250 Million in Damages and No Answers
The Food and Drug Administration last week gave the "all clear" to tomatoes sold anywhere in the United States despite the ongoing salmonella outbreak that has happened on the FDA's feckless, incompetent watch. The FDA still has no idea where the salmonella is coming from, even as people continue to get sick.

But don't worry. The overpaid bureaucrats at the FDA have accomplished something during the more than three months of this outbreak. They've absolutely destroyed the tomato industry in this country, costing it about a quarter billion dollars in business and robbing thousands of farmers of their livelihoods.

 

[William Kanitz]

The trail is still hot as the repackers of tomato and peppers have not all been found.