Public health alert issued for meat and poultry products containing recalled jalapeños

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is issuing a public health alert for meat and poultry products containing Food and Drug Administration-regulated jalapeños that may be contaminated with Salmonella. FSIS expects additional downstream products will be identified as this ingredient recall progresses.

The list of products subject to the public health alert is available here, including information such as the product names, establishment numbers, states where the products were distributed, and contact information for media and consumers.

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The problem was discovered when FDA notified FSIS that multiple FSIS-regulated establishments received an FDA-regulated ingredient that had been recalled.

More information on the FDA recall and outbreak investigation is available on FDA’s website.

Consumption of food contaminated with Salmonella can cause salmonellosis, one of the most common bacterial foodborne illnesses. The most common symptoms of salmonellosis are diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within six hours to six days after eating the contaminated product. The illness usually lasts four to seven days. Most people recover without treatment.

In some cases, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. Older adults, infants, and persons with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop severe illness.

Individuals concerned about an illness should contact their health care provider.

There have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of the FSIS-regulated products containing the affected jalapeños. Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a health care provider.

Earlier CDC investigation into multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to jalapeño peppers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday said an investigation is underway into a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to jalapeño peppers distributed to restaurants and food service companies, including popular Mexican-style restaurants in the U.S.

In a safety advisory on Wednesday, the FDA urged consumers, distributors, and food service companies not to eat, serve, or sell recalled fresh jalapeños, which are from Sinaloa, Mexico, and were distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors.

The FDA’s advisory comes after Chipotle on Tuesday said it was removing jalapeños from some restaurants out of an abundance of caution after identifying the peppers as a potential source of a salmonella outbreak. In that statement, the restaurant chain said it was replacing the potentially compromised peppers with supplies from a different grower.