RALEIGH N.C. Jalapenos and Hass avocados from a Texas supplier are being recalled in North Carolina after state officials there found salmonella in two samples.
The investigation is ongoing, but initial tests indicate the salmonella found there is not the rare Saintpaul strain that has sickened more than 1,200 people nationwide, including 23 in North Carolina, said Leah Devlin, the state's public health director. State officials also indicated that the small number of samples that tested positive for salmonella likely meant that the latest outbreak was limited to a small area.
The produce was sent from Texas and distributed by a Charlotte, N.C., company, which local reports identified as El Campo Produce Inc. Those reports indicated that El Campo's customers include more than 100 small stores and restaurants in 25 counties in North Carolina.
The salmonella was found while state officials were responding to a notice from one of El Campo's customers, a restaurant in Charlotte called Cantina 1511, that several patrons had fallen ill after dining there in June. Tests from the restaurant itself did not reveal any signs of the salmonella.
In addition to asking El Campo to recall jalapenos and Hass avocados, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services also requested that the Texas supplier, identified in reports as Grande Produce Limited, recall all of the implicated products that had been delivered to its other customers in the state.
According to the department's website, the avocados came from Texas in 60-count boxes designated "Frutas Finas de Tancitaro HASS Avocados, Produce of Mexico" with the lot number HUE08160090889. It said that the peppers came in unbranded black plastic crates weighing about 15 pounds.
North Carolina's agriculture commissioner, Steve Troxler, emphasized in a statement that none of the implicated produce was grown in the state.
Calls to El Campo and North Carolina's Agriculture Department were not returned as of the time of this posting.
Federal officials are still working to determine the source of the salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, which was initially tied to certain varieties of raw tomatoes. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration officially declared tomatoes safe to eat and said its investigation was now centered on jalapeno and serrano peppers. The FDA said its investigators were looking at a packing operation in Mexico that handles both kinds of peppers.
