Salmonella Traced to Mexican Jalapeno at Texas Plant

A jalapeno pepper, grown on a farm in Mexico and found at a Texas distribution center, was tainted with the salmonella strain that has sickened more than 1,200 people, U.S. regulators said.

The Food and Drug Administration is urging Americans not to eat fresh jalapenos after the contaminated pepper was found at the Agricola Zaragosa distribution center in McAllen, Texas, said David Acheson, the agency's assistant commissioner for foods, in a conference call with reporters today. Officials don't know if the contamination occurred at the farm, the center or elsewhere.

The finding is a ``very important break in the case'' for regulators after weeks of investigating the outbreak, first linked to raw tomatoes on June 7, Acheson said. Officials, who don't know where the contamination occurred, are now visiting the farm in Mexico and searching distribution records to determine if any other produce was tainted.

``Although the pepper was grown in Mexico, it may not have been contaminated there,'' Acheson told reporters. ``The critical part of this is not to say, `We've got this figured out.'''


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