FDA teleconference - No news is bad news

Not a lot of illumination today from FDA officials, and expectations that "the answer" is at hand were not fulfilled.

In the teleconference today, the CDC identified salmonella victims in new states not previously linked to the outbreak, including Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Vermont. The total number of victims is 228, the FDA says. Onset dates range from April 10 to June 1.

The FDA posted a flow diagram of a sample investigation, illustrating the complexity of the FDA's task.

Is the outbreak ongoing? CDC regards it as an ongoing outbreak.
Are tainted tomatoes still in the pipeline? Acheson: impossible question to answer, but there is still concern that contaminated product is out there.

On finding the farm:
"At this stage of the investigation there is no guarantee we will get down to the farm level," David Acheson revealed. "We may never know." Still, Acheson said he was still optimistic about finding the source, insisting the FDA is closer every day.

Questions about Mexico:
There is a confidentiality agreement in place with Mexico; FDA has talked to officials there but has not sent any officials to Mexico. Acheson indicated there seemed to be back and forth with Mexican regions that weren't producing tomatoes at the time of the outbreak, but he said "At this point, Baja has not been excluded."

Confusing advice to consumers?
"We are trying to go to great lengths to tell people tomatoes from regions that have been cleared are safe and not part of the outbreak," Acheson said. "If a store says they know tomatoes came from X geographic regions, then that's useful advice to consumers.

Why not just say Mexico or Florida are the potential sources of the outbreak? "We need to be right."

If consumers can't find out where tomatoes are from in the supermarket:"If you don't know, don't take the risk."

Acheson said: "The traceback is ongoing, it is extremely complex, and we are devoting all our energy and resources to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible."