WASHINGTON - Investigators probing the salmonella outbreak that mysteriously keeps infecting Americans have expanded their hunt beyond tomatoes and are looking to see whether other produce may be responsible, federal health officials confirmed yesterday.
It was the strongest indication to date by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that weeks of focus on tomatoes as the culprit may have been a mistake, something that state health officials and other scientists increasingly fear.
The federal officials said tomatoes remain the primary suspect in the expanded investigation, but unspecified "new information" received over the weekend suggested that other produce commonly served with tomatoes could be the cause.
"The tomato trail is still hot. It's a question of whether other products are getting hotter," said Dr. David Acheson, associate FDA commissioner for foods.
The FDA, CDC and health departments in New Mexico and Texas, which began targeting tomatoes in late May, are increasingly on the defensive, more than 11 weeks after the outbreak began.
They are facing criticism from health officials in other states, produce industry executives, independent food-safety scientists and members of Congress that the investigation has been mishandled.
A total of 869 people nationwide, including 29 in Maryland, have been infected by Salmonella saintpaul, which causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, according to the CDC's latest update on the outbreak, believed to be the largest of its kind in the U.S.
Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, said produce other than tomatoes could be causing the outbreak.
Tainted irrigation water can contaminate jalapeno peppers, for example, just as it could contaminate tomatoes, he said.
The hunt for a new culprit probably means that an immediate resolution is unlikely, food safety specialists acknowledged.
According to the FDA, investigators will first try to find another likely suspect, through a statistical analysis of interviews with those who have been infected, before trying to trace it back to the source.
Lingering uncertainty about what caused the outbreak has worried consumers, angered the produce industry and prompted a House panel that has been examining the government's food safety system to plan a public hearing this month.
