Enrique Sanchez, the director of Mexico’s Farm Food Quality Service, criticized the FDA for rushing to a conclusion that a Mexican pepper farm was a source of the recent salmonella saintpaul outbreak. He also maintained that the investigation is not complete so the findings should not have been publicized.
The FDA is standing by its findings, and issued a statement of “surprise and disappointment” at the official Mexican response.
Meanwhile, another Mexican health official said that his investigators did find salmonella in some samples of soil, water and vegetables they tested, but that they hadn’t yet identified the strain as salmonella saintpaul.