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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> But a warning against jalapeno and serrano peppers remains in effect, he added.
"We still do not know where the original contamination was," Acheson acknowledged during last week's teleconference.
When the outbreak began in April, early signs pointed to raw tomatoes -- particularly raw round, red tomatoes, plum or Roma tomatoes -- as the likely source of contamination. But Acheson said the ban was lifted Thursday because it's highly unlikely that any tomatoes that were on the market at the start of the outbreak remain on the market.
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The FDA has found no samples of salmonella in tomatoes on any of the farms or in any of the packing houses investigated, he added.
As later cases of salmonella infection came in, more evidence seemed to point to peppers. As a result, the FDA, in cooperation with Mexican officials, dispatched inspectors to a specific packer in Mexico that receives peppers from several farms, Acheson said.
According to the CDC, people stricken during the outbreak have ranged in age from under 1 to 99 years old, and 50 percent are female. The rate of illness has been highest among those 20 to 29 years old; it is lowest among adolescents 10 to 19 years old and people over 80.
According to the CDC's latest count as of July 18, the breakdown by state of ill people shows: Alabama (2 persons), Arkansas (16), Arizona (54), California (9), Colorado (16), Connecticut (4), Florida (3), Georgia (28), Idaho (6), Illinois (113), Indiana (18), Iowa (2), Kansas (19), Kentucky (2), Louisiana (1), Maine (1), Maryland (36), Massachusetts (28), Michigan (24), Minnesota (22), Mississippi (2), Missouri (20), Montana (1), New Hampshire (5), Nevada (12), New Jersey (12), New Mexico (102), New York (38), North Carolina (23), Ohio (10), Oklahoma (25), Oregon (10), Pennsylvania (12), Rhode Island (3), South Carolina (2), Tennessee (9), Texas (475), Utah (2), Virginia (31), Vermont (2), Washington (17), West Virginia (1), Wisconsin (13), and the District of Columbia (1). Five ill persons are from Canada; four appear to have been infected while traveling in the United States, and one individual remains under investigation.
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