Say it ain't salsa:
Ingredients newest suspect in national salmonella outbreak

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Local cases and controls in the salmonella outbreak will be interviewed again in the coming days, the Navajo Nation’s Bio-Terrorism Preparedness Program said Friday.

Cilantro, jalapenos, Serrano peppers and other peppers used in salsa recipes are now among the foods that are suspected of salmonella Saintpaul contamination. Foods that have already been identified as suspect for contamination are red round tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and plum tomatoes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clusters of people who were infected with salmonella ate in certain restaurants before becoming ill — usually Mexican or Mexican-type restaurants.

The information will help investigators as they try to determine if other foods are involved with the salmonella contamination. To date, the salmonella outbreak has affected people in 42 states.

The tribe’s BTPP said that when affected individuals were interviewed in May, they were not asked if they consumed peppers or cilantro — both of which have now been identified as suspect to salmonella contamination. The local cases were also not asked many questions about restaurant eating.

“Now that the Nation is looking into additional foods and food supplies, more important information may be gained through the second round of interviews to help stop the outbreak locally and nationally,” the tribe’s Bio-Terrorism Preparedness Program stated.

The Outbreak Investigation Staff, including an epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to be on the Navajo Nation to re-interview Navajo area cases in the next few days.

The investigation team is also expected to focus on the people who prepared the food eaten by those who became ill with salmonella Saintpaul.

The outbreak is a national problem and one epidemiologist that the Independent spoke to said it’s unusual for such an outbreak to last so long.

The tribe doesn’t have any numbers regarding how many local people have become ill due to salmonella contamination, but it has been reported that in the state of New Mexico 104 people in 19 counties have been sick with salmonella Saintpaul, 49 in Arizona and 2 in Utah. Mississippi most recently joined the list of states that have reported a salmonella Saintpaul outbreak.

The New Mexico Department of Health is encouraging people to be cautious about eating raw jalapeno or serrano peppers and to eat only tomatoes that are on the safe list, such as tomatoes with the vine still attached, cherry tomatoes and homegrown tomatoes.