FDA says tomatoes are safe; peppers suspect

WASHINGTON — It's OK to eat all kinds of tomatoes again, the U.S. government declared Thursday — lifting its salmonella warning amid signs the record outbreak, while not over, finally may be slowing.

Hot peppers still get a caution: The people most at risk of salmonella — including the elderly and people with weak immune systems — should avoid fresh jalapeños and serranos, and any dishes that may contain them, such as fresh salsa, federal health officials advised.

Investigators still don't know what caused the salmonella outbreak, which now has sickened 1,220 people in 42 states, between April 10 and July 4.

But Thursday's move, coming as the tomato industry estimates its losses at more than $100 million, doesn't mean that tomatoes harvested in the spring are cleared. It just means that the tomatoes in fields and stores today are safe to eat, said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief.

Early on, there was good evidence linking certain raw tomatoes to the illness, Acheson stressed. Yet inspectors haven't found the outbreak strain of salmonella Saintpaul on any farms, in suspect areas of South Florida and parts of Mexico, where they've managed to trace tomatoes thought to have been eaten by patients.

As the outbreak stretched into last month, more evidence emerged against fresh jalapeños — the FDA's hottest lead for now. The agency sent inspectors to a Mexican packing house that supplied peppers linked to a cluster of those illnesses.

Also still on the suspect list is fresh cilantro.

Separately Thursday, North Carolina officials who were investigating some salmonella Saintpaul cases linked to a Charlotte-area restaurant announced a recall of jalapeños and avocados shipped to that state from a Texas food-supply company. More tests are needed to see if the salmonella found in two samples is the outbreak strain, or another variety.