FDA - Teams being sent to Mexico, Florida

The FDA announced today that traceback investigations lead back to tomatoes from farms in both Florida and Mexico. A caveat is that the FDA doesn't think salmonella saintpaul - a relatively rare strain - could have come from both regions concurrently. The FDA said there is not a preponderance of evidence to implicate one region over the other at this point.

Teams are being sent out to farms in both regions and "pathways" to point of purchase or consumption (repackers, distribution centers) this weekend, but the FDA made it clear that the agency was not assuming the contamination occurred on the farms. David Acheson said it is possible the contamination could have occurred later in the supply chain. Basic consumer advice will remain the same. Now sickened by salmonella saintpaul are well over 500 people in 32 states, thought to be the biggest salmonella outbreak related to tomatoes ever.