I just blogged the jalapeno pepper recall by Castellini Company in Kentucky. Now another recall of these hot peppers has been announced by South Florida Produce, LLC, located in Florida. This company sent these peppers by truck to distributors in Oxford, NC, Lake Worth, FL, Washington, DC, Pompano Beach, FL, Fair Lawn, NJ, Toronto, and Ontario, Canada between March 5 and March 7, 2012.
Are the two recalls related? Both are caused by Salmonella bacteria. Of course, there are many kinds of Salmonella, and they may not involve the same strain. As far as we know at the moment, neither company distributed to the other one. But if the same Salmonella is involved, as it may be, did both companies get the peppers from a single source? No one seems to be saying where they came from - yet.
My guess would be that both companies imported the peppers from a supplier in Mexico. Several of the U.S.jalapeno pepper recalls in the past - including the one in December 2011, and the one in July 2008 (see my earlier posts) involved imported Mexican jalapeno peppers.
And, as you have probably noticed, these peppers have gone to distributors, which means they will be distributed further from there. Who knows where.
We are likely to hear much more about contaminated jalapeno peppers in the next few days and weeks. If you live anywhere in the U.S. or in Canada - avoid eating fresh jalapenos for the next few weeks. If you cook them, that would kill the bacteria.
To your good health,
TSF
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