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Here we go again. In 2006 it was Escherichia coli and spinach. This
year it’s Salmonella serotype Saintpaul and tomatoes — and, recently,
jalapeño, serrano peppers, and cilantro.
It’s certainly important for public-health
agencies to find the source of the outbreak and for producers, purveyors,
and consumers to take the appropriate precautions. It’s equally
important, however, to keep a realistic perspective about the situation and
distinguish between facts and media hype. Is there any real reason to panic
or completely quit eating these fresh vegetables?
As of this writing, 1,065 people have been infected
with this particular strain; since mid-April, 205 have had to be
hospitalized. The last case was reported on June 26. Two men from Texas
died — one in his eighties and another in his sixties who had
terminal cancer; that man’s death was attributed to the cancer, but
the infection may have been a contributing cause.
In a normal year about 40,000 cases of Salmonella poisoning are
reported, although experts agree that there are many more; the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention estimates 30 unreported incidents for every
one reported. This is because most cases are mild and the symptoms and
duration of the illness closely resemble those of the flu. Healthy people
almost always recover, but for those at risk — the elderly, young
children, infants, and people with chronic illnesses — it can be more
serious. There are about 400 Salmonella-linked deaths each year.
Those yearly statistics mean that in two months (the
time since the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak began) the U.S. normally sees approximately 6,666 reports of Salmonella poisoning and 666 deaths.
That makes the Saintpaul infections a definite matter of concern but hardly
a crisis.
Salmonella Saintpaul is
not more virulent than most other serotypes, but it is rare. There are more
than 2,500 types of Salmonella, but only a very few are responsible for almost all Salmonella poisoning. That
rarity is what has led Food and Drug Administration and CDC experts to try
to find a common origin for outbreaks that have occurred in 41 states and
Canada.
As is the case with E.
coli, Salmonella bacteria live and grow in the intestines of humans and
animals. Vegetables and fruits are neither hosts nor carriers of either
bacteria; any produce that spreads the infections has itself been
contaminated.
“My best guess is that they’ll find the
source in one of two places,” says Alys Adamski, an
infectious-disease researcher at the Southern Illinois University School of
Medicine.
“Either it’ll be someone — or
probably a group of infected people — working in a packaging area or
it’ll have something to do with fertilizer in the fields if
they’re using manure.” (It should be noted that only fresh
manure poses any threat; properly composted manure is safe. Responsible
farmers never use fresh manure as fertilizer.)
People’s unsure recollections about when and
what they ate and where they got it add to the complexity of the
investigation. It doesn’t help that tomatoes, hot peppers, and
cilantro are often used in combination. Were they grown on the same farm?
Processed and or packed at the same facility? Investigators are sure at
this point that jalapeños (serranos are included because many people
can’t tell them apart) aren’t the sole source of infections,
because many victims have said that they didn’t eat them or anything
else, such as fresh salsa, that might contain them.
“We are quite sure that neither tomatoes nor
jalapeños explain the entire outbreak at this point,” says Dr.
Robert Tauxe, CDC food-safety chief.
One of the things baffling investigators is the
widespread, diffuse pattern of the outbreak. There have been reported cases
in 41 states and Canada. Most, however, are isolated or in small clusters
of five people or so, unlike other large-scale food poisonings where, say,
everyone who ate at a certain restaurant or restaurant chain got sick.
Investigators admit that they may never be able to
conclusively track down the source. They aren’t even sure whether the
culprits are domestic or imported. The biggest stumbling block to the
investigation — and the reason the contamination probably occurred in
the first place — is that recurring problem: the tangled web of
sources, packaging, processing, and distribution that is today’s
industrial food production. Investigators have been surprised to find out
just how far produce travels and how mixed up it gets in the process.
It’s called repacking: Suppliers and distributors repack boxes of
produce to meet customers’ (restaurants, groceries, etc.) requests,
resulting in the mixing of produce from a variety of sources, imported as
well as domestic, in repacked boxes. Repacking makes it difficult —
if not impossible — to trace where the produce has been and determine
where it was contaminated. There are even instances in which tomatoes
grown, picked, and boxed in America are sent to Mexico, where they are
sorted, repackaged, and sent back sporting stickers that say “U.S.
Grown.”
While health officials have been attempting to track
down the outbreak’s source, they have also been working to eliminate
areas as possible suspects. Illinois has been completely cleared as a
possible source of contamination.
In other words, there is
no reason to avoid eating locally grown tomatoes, hot peppers, and cilantro!
These produce items also been declared safe in 41
other states, parts of Florida, and several other countries, including 28
of Mexico’s 31 states. Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes
with the vine still attached — no matter where they were grown
— are OK, too. The FDA very sensibly suggests that stores and markets
that label produce as “locally grown” might not be entirely
truthful; ask questions and judge accordingly. Many farmers’ markets
— including our Springfield farmers’ markets — require
that vendors only sell what they themselves grow, making them a safe bet.
Of course, homegrown produce is on the approved list, too.
So have no fear: As long as they’re from around
here, you can feast on tomatoes and hot peppers and cilantro to your
heart’s content. The local ones taste better anyway.
Additional information, as well as a complete list of
states, regions, and countries whose produce is free of Salmonella Saintpaul contamination
is available at www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/
tomatoes.html.
Contact Julianne Glatz at realcuisine.jg@gmail.com.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2008.
