Tomatoes Good, Jalapenos Bad?

     A few days ago the FDA cleared all fresh tomatoes saying they are now safe to consume again. Which after the terrible losses, is good news.

     It's been reported now though that the same exact genetic strain of the Salmonella was found on a fresh jalapeno pepper. The pepper was grown in Mexico and from there went to a distribution plant in Texas. It is not known where the contamination occurred, Texas, Mexico, or somewhere in between. However they have officially put the word out to stay away from fresh jalapeno peppers and any products that have been made with them as an ingredient.

     I for some reason always assumed because of the hotness of the pepper that not even a bacteria could survive contact with it, but I guess with this news I was wrong.

     There is a lot of criticism now over the way the investigation was handled, and how after all this time and over 1250 people getting sick, they still haven't exactly pinpointed the original source. Of course the people most hurt by this, beside the ones that became ill, are the tomato growers. Millions were lost overall and some of these growers are going to be hard pressed to recover from such losses.