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Jalapeno from southwest Colorado tests positive for salmonella

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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A jalapeno pepper submitted by an ill person in Montezuma County in southwest Colorado tested positive for salmonella, health officials said Monday, providing a new clue to officials investigating a national outbreak.

The pepper that tested positive for Salmonella Saintpaul was purchased at a Wal-Mart in Montezuma County, likely on June 24. The individual became sick on July 4.

Where the pepper was grown was not clear, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said peppers grown in the U.S. are safe. State and federal investigators are looking into where the pepper originated.

Last Monday, the FDA said that a Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper that was handled in Texas was contaminated with Salmonella Saintpaul. Earlier, it was believed that certain types of tomatoes were contaminated with the same strain.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since April there have been 1,304 people who have been infected with a strain of salmonella with the same genetic fingerprint. Cases have been identified in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.

Colorado counts 16 of those confirmed cases, including three each in El Paso and Pueblo counties, two each in Adams, Denver, Montezuma and Otero counties, and one each in Douglas and Weld counties.

Health officials on Monday said the Montezuma County case was the first in which they were able to link a specific pepper with an ill person.

Last Friday, the FDA advised that fresh jalapeno and serrano peppers grown in the United States are not associated with the salmonella outbreak.

But jalapeno and serrano peppers grown outside the U.S. should be eaten only if they have been processed or canned, the agency said.

Comments

  • July 29, 2008

    6:20 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    DD writes:

    And yet another reason not to purchase anything edible from Wal-Mart. Not dog food (most of which was recalled last year) and now not human food. They are concerned with providing products for the bottom dollar, not safety and quality.

  • July 29, 2008

    6:30 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    V_twinMan writes:

    DD,
    your comments regarding dogfood "(most of which was recalled last year) " are incorrect. WalMart sells many brands of dog food including Iams, Purina, etc. not one of those brands was recalled.

  • July 29, 2008

    6:39 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Glyph54 writes:

    DD,
    All stores are primarily concerned with the bottom dollar. Safety and quality are simply to ensure repeat business; they are not the reason for being in business.

  • July 29, 2008

    7:31 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ColoNative writes:

    Walmart is wrong because they are successful. Because of their success, they should be sold off and the proceeds given back to the poor that they have takne advantage of. We should then go after all businesses that have ever turned a profit, including the sidewalk lemonade stands set up by our neighbor's kids. All profit is evil sine it motivates hard work. All of us should then become slaves to a corrupt and paranoid government which claims to only have fairness and our best interests in mind. They will then do things like tell us what we can and cannot eat, how much water we can use to flush our toilets and take our showers, and how bad affordable gasoline is on the environment. Oh. sorry - that's where we are heading now anyway.

  • July 29, 2008

    10:12 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    vudumom writes:

    The jalapeno came from Mexico. The RMN can't report it because they don't want to hurt the feelings of Mexico.

  • July 29, 2008

    12:45 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    tracer123 writes:

    THE JALAPEN0 CAME FROM TEXAS NOT MEXICO.
    SO.

  • July 29, 2008

    12:54 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    JackieMC writes:

    The story says it was grown in Mexico and handled in Texas.

  • July 29, 2008

    1:57 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    temurlan writes:

    That Jalapeno thought it was hot stuff...until it tested positive.

  • July 29, 2008

    5:21 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    BigRich writes:

    The headline is very misleading:

    "Jalapeno from southwest Colorado tests positive for salmonella"

    It may be FROM Texas or Mexico, but it's not FROM southwest Colorado; that's just where it ended up. Are the Rocky editors intentionally trying to kill the Colorado ag business?

  • July 29, 2008

    8:16 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    redwhiteandBLUE writes:

    Cnn.did say it originated from Mexico but our government officials
    don't want to offend Mexico, so they didn't pursue the issue.

    Rather than to confront Mexico..they backed off and let the US
    citizen, get sick and die. That's happened with a lot of the vegetables. The green onions that had E-coli were sold at Wal-Mart
    brand name Foxy in a bag.

    They couldn't trace the salmonella on the tomatoes, because people were eating salsa tomatoes/jalapenos and or/Serrano peppers.

    A young lady we know worked at a Mexican restaurant where all the uneaten salsa that was served to customers...was returned to
    the kitchen..put in a container and ..re-served to the next customer
    just waiting to scoop that salsa with some crn chips.

    Talk about Salmonella, e-coli and hepatitis AB &C ..thats gross!

  • July 30, 2008

    12:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    STOPUSAGiveaway writes:

    Look who is picking the produce--WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?

  • July 30, 2008

    9:41 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    redwhiteandBLUE writes:

    Where's the health card ?