Just as the US’s explosive diarrhea situation is starting to improve, there seem to be fresh new food risks to worry about. Jalapeño peppers, eggs, granola, and even dog food are being recalled because of possible contamination with salmonella bacteria.
A growing outbreak related to contaminated jalapeños is responsible for 431 illnesses in 32 states, with 57 people requiring hospitalization, according to an August 19 update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency has identified jalapeños from Sinaloa, Mexico, and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors as the source of the outbreak. The company agreed to recall affected produce, triggering widespread removals of salsa, guacamole, salad dressing, and other jalapeño-containing products across Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Kroger, Target, and other stores. Chipotle and Qdoba also stopped serving the jalapeños in question.
A separate salmonella outbreak linked to eggs has sickened 98 people across 17 states. Of those, 26 have been hospitalized. Health officials have named Midwest Poultry Services as a common egg source but say the company’s eggs did not account for all illnesses in the outbreak and are investigating other sources. The company in July began a voluntary recall of 19 million eggs due to potential contamination. The eggs were produced and distributed from farms in Texas.
A type of granola—Lacnola Lactation Granola from Hampton Grocers—is also being recalled due to possible salmonella risk. In that case, the problematic ingredient is organic moringa powder, a nutrient-dense green powder made from the leaves of the South Asian moringa tree. Several salmonella outbreaks linked to imported moringa leaf powder and dietary supplements containing moringa have occurred since last year.
Salmonella is also making its way into dog food. Oma’s Pride is recalling bags of its Woof Complete Canine Chicken Recipe after the FDA received a consumer complaint and subsequently collected and analyzed a sample of the product, which tested positive for salmonella. Three illnesses in dogs have been reported, according to the FDA notice.
Salmonella symptoms include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps and typically occur 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food. It can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems.
Salmonella outbreaks in the summer are fairly common, says Ellen Shumaker, a food safety expert at NC State Extension. People tend to eat more fresh produce in the summer and also dine outside more. “When we see warmer temperatures, that is going to create conditions that are favorable for bacteria like salmonella or parasites like cyclospora to grow,” she says. Food left unrefrigerated for more than two hours can be unsafe to eat.
But how does salmonella get into food in the first place? Unlike cyclospora, which only affects humans, salmonella can infect people and animals.
The egg recall involves a strain known as Salmonella enteritidis, which is known to affect poultry. It can colonize in the reproductive tract of laying hens and then be passed to eggs before the shell is formed. Laying hens can be exposed to salmonella through contaminated feed, water, or soil or through contact with infected wildlife or other animals. Humans can also bring the bacteria into laying facilities if it’s on their clothes or shoes.
“This specific type of salmonella has long been associated with eggs, and so this is a known issue,” says Jennifer McEntire, a food microbiologist and founder of the consulting firm Food Safety Strategy. The FDA requires egg producers with 3,000 or more laying hens to test for this type of salmonella.
When it comes to fresh produce, salmonella can be transmitted through contaminated irrigation water, which is also thought to be the most likely vehicle for spreading cyclospora.
Edward Dudley, a professor of food science at Penn State, says that in produce-growing regions that also have a lot of agriculture, there is always potential for waste from infected farm animals to come into contact with produce.
“The closer those two sites come to each other, the greater the chance that you're going to have salmonella or E. coli from the animals getting into surface waters that are used for irrigation that can eventually be transmitted to the crops,” he says.
He says people don’t need to be overly concerned about salmonella, especially if they’ve already thrown out the products affected by the recalls, “but certainly, be cautious.” That means washing your hands before handling food, cleaning food-prep and cooking surfaces, refrigerating perishables promptly, cooking foods to a safe internal temperature, and keeping raw meat, eggs, and poultry away from other foods in the kitchen.
“We have a technology right now to completely eliminate salmonella outbreaks, and it's called cooking,” he says. “But in the United States, we like eating fresh produce.”
Indeed, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent the summer encouraging people to do as much, when not touting a meat-and-ferments diet.
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