Peppers Now Linked To Salmonella Outbreak Cases Rise to 1,065 By Anna Boyd 14:02, July 13th 2008     If you’re a fan of the Mexican cuisine and especially fresh salsa, you may need to think twice before having one. Why? Beginning with Wednesday, U.S. health officials added three common ingredients in salsa to the list of vegetables responsible for now more than 1,000 salmonella Sanitpaul infections in 41 states.   Besides raw tomatoes, which were initially blamed for sickening people starting with April 10 when the first infection appeared, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday added raw jalapeno peppers or fresh cilandro to the list of suspects.   However, the investigation, now heading to its eight week, “have not found any samples of tomatoes or peppers positive for Salmonella Saintpaul,” Steve Sundlof, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition said at a teleconference, according to the Washington Post.   That the raw jalapeno peppers or fresh cilandro are carriers of Salmonella bacteria is just a presumption. Nothing is for sure, as “neither tomatoes, nor jalapenos explain the entire outbreak at this point,” Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the division of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.   He also added that the U.S. is confronting now with the largest foodborne outbreak. Since April, the illness has sickened a record 1,065 people confirmed by Thursday. The first case was reported on April 10 and the latest so far on June 26, which suggests that the outbreak is ongoing.   As the investigators are struggling with finding an answer to where it all started, the CDC cautioned people to remain on high alert against salmonella infection recommending infants, the elderly and people with weak immune system not eat raw tomatoes, fresh serrano peppers and fresh cilandro.   © 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia