Federal officials this week released the first reports on a Salmonella outbreak in 2016 that sickened more than 30 people across nine states and was traced to fresh hot peppers.
The outbreak hit people from Texas to Minnesota, causing the hospitalization of at least eight out of 32 confirmed victims, according to a report in the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Investigators could not determine what specific type of hot pepper was causing illness, or which farm was producing the peppers. Due to the short shelf-life of fresh peppers, the contaminated peppers were most likely no longer being sold or served when investigators suspected peppers as the outbreak source.”
The Food and Drug Administration had similar reasons for not alerting the public during the 2016 outbreak, which stretched from May 6 through July 9.
“The FDA worked with CDC on this outbreak, however the traceback investigation was unable to uncover a common source for the peppers at the time and therefore we did not have any actionable information to share with consumers,” a spokesman from the Food and Drug Administration told Food Safety News Thursday afternoon.
The FDA called for the collection and testing of 1,600 hot pepper samples — 320 domestic, and 1,280 of international origin. As of April 1, the agency had collected 310 domestic samples and 1,255 import samples. Of those, FDA tested 309 of the domestic samples for Salmonella, with only one returning positive results. That’s about 0.3 percent with positive results.
Of the import samples collected, FDA tested 1,211 for Salmonella and found 44 of them — 3.6 percent — positive for the pathogen.
“As the testing is still underway, no conclusions can be drawn at this time,” according to the most recent update, which FDA posted on April 1.
There were four fresh pepper recalls because of Salmonella during the outbreak period in the U.S. and Canada:
Habanero peppers from Montero Farms in McAllen, TX;
Chili peppers from Canada Herb;
Veg-Pak Produce Ltd. Hot Peppers – Red Thai in Canada; and
Serrano peppers from Warren Produce in Edinburg, TX.
