Inspectors are collecting soil, water and produce samples, reviewing export logs and combing packing plants in the three major tomato-growing states in Mexico.
But the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appears no closer to finding the source of a mysterious salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 900 people nationwide.
The FDA is not even 100 percent sure that tomatoes are the cause — adding peppers and cilantro on Saturday to its list of foods under investigation in the outbreak.
A team of three FDA inspectors has gone through five farms in the western states of Jalisco and Sinaloa in the past two weeks, looking at all aspects of tomato production: the greenhouses where they are grown, the packing plants where they are shut into boxes and the shipping methods for the trip north to the US.
They also plan to visit the northern state of Coahuila to finish up their study.
The results can’t come too soon for the three Mexican states that were targeted by the FDA, along with farms in Texas and Florida.
Bonanza 2001 farm in Autlan, Jalisco, which normally exports about 12,000 tonnes of tomatoes a year to the US, has hundreds of tonnes sitting in a warehouse near the Texas-Mexico border as demand has plummeted, spokesman Luis Almejo said.
Sinaloa growers also face big losses.
“We’re demanding that they release those results as soon as possible so that Sinaloa can be cleared of any suspicion,” said Manuel Tarriba, president of Sinaloa’s Tomato Growers Association, adding that he expects some results by the end of the week.
The outbreak, which began in April, has affected 943 people so far in 40 US states, more of a third of them in Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. There have been 225 cases reported since June 1 — evidence that the source likely has not been contained.
The US tomato industry has taken a US$100 million hit as restaurants temporarily dropped tomatoes from their menus, and farmers have had to plow under their fields or leave crops to rot in packinghouses.
Mexico has not calculated its losses. But growers worry they still may be under a shadow of suspicion as late as November, when greenhouses harvest their summer tomatoes.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was